Near-Earth asteroid Bennu could hit Earth in 157 years and set off a global ‘impact winter,’ study says
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If the asteroid near the asteroid may collide with the Earth in the future, the space rock may cause great global damage, although it is a small part of the size The asteroid that wiped the dinosaursAccording to the new research.
Astronomers estimate that Banu has a 1 in 2700 chances to influence the ground In September 2182, which equals 0.037 %.
The asteroid, which contains the basic building blocks of life according to the recent studies of samples that have been returned to Earth by NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission, is a medium-sized space rock of about 1640 feet (500 meters). The asteroid, who criticized the Earth 66 million years ago and led to the extinction of dinosaurs by about 6.2 miles (10 km) in its diameter and was distinguished by the last large asteroid known for hitting the planet.
Looking at the small but impossible opportunity for the potential Beenu influence in the future, a research team modeling the antiquities that such a collision will cause on our planet, including the global climate and ecosystems across land and oceans. A study showing the results published on Wednesday in the magazine Science progress.
Medium -sized asteroids like Bennu collision with the Earth almost every 100,000 to 200,000 years, according to the study.
The researchers have found that the strike can lead to a global winter season that can reduce rain and cool the planet from other monuments that may last for years. It is possible that the first humans have lived through similar circumstances during the previous asteroid collision.
Dr. Lan Day, author of the study, Dr. Lan Day, a post -PhD research fellow at IBS, told IBS to IBS. Our genetic makeup. ” Climate physics, or ICCP, at Busan National University in South Korea.
A series of global consequences
Researchers used climate models and helping super computers in Aleph in ICCP to run different scenarios for a Bennu collision with the Earth, with a great focus on the effects of injection 100 million to 400 million tons into the Earth’s atmosphere. The results showed major disturbances in the weather and climate on our planet within three to four years after the asteroid strike.
Initially, the effect will create a strong hole and cause the material to spray the material near the strike site. Dai said that the collision will generate a strong shock and earthquake. She said that large quantities of atmosphere and gases issued by the effect can climb to the atmosphere, which changes the Earth’s climate with the ongoing effects.
If the bennu hits the ocean, it will lead to a huge tsunami and release large amounts of water vapor in the air. These events can cause global ozone exhaustion in the upper atmosphere that can last for years.
“The active climate aerosols, including dust, soot and sulfur, can contribute to multi -year cooling after influence,” Dai said in an email. “Unlike the cooling of atmosphere, greenhouse gases such as (carbon dioxide) may cause warming in the long run.”
Dai said that the most intense scenario, which contains 400 million tons of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere, will lead to a “global influence winter”, or a period of cold temperatures, low sunlight and low precipitation.
Highly transported dust particles in the air will absorb and spread sunlight, preventing them from reaching the surface of the Earth. The lack of sunlight would cause global temperatures to drop at 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). With global temperatures, rain can decrease by up to 15 % because less evaporation will occur on the ground, as the results of the study showed. Ozone layer can exhaust up to 32 %, according to the study.
Depending on the place where the strike occurred, regional effects can be seen more severely, as the authors of the study indicated.
“Our results show that dust molecules of up to two years may cause” winter “globally for more than 4 years after influence.” “The sudden winter will provide unfavorable climatic conditions for growth, which leads to a preliminary decrease from 20 to 30 % of optical representation in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. This is likely to cause tremendous disturbances in global food security.”
A view from top to bottom shows a container with Bennu’s rock and dust samples. Erika Blumenfeld/Joseph Abersold/NASA
While contemporary humans did not live through an asteroid strike, Dai compared environmental effects to “other disasters that prevent the sun”, such as large volcanic eruptions.
The amount of global cooling in the study is comparable to what happened when Sumatra Mount Tuba witnessed a great excitement,, Which is considered one of the largest in Earth’s history, which is likely to disrupt the global climate 74,000 years ago.
Nadja Drabon, a professor of land and planet at Harvard University, said that the search results are well compatible with the studied effects of the previous effects in the history of the Earth.
“Many of these previous effects were largely greater, as their effects were often more severe and longer,” said Drabon. (The study) is particularly interesting, as it shows that even relatively “small” effects can emit enough dust to reduce severe optical representation, which leads to severe problems in the food chain. We believe that similar events occurred earlier Earth’s history, but with greater discounts in primary productivity.
Drabon did not participate in this study, but he composed a research on what had happened when it was a huge space rock, estimated at the size of four Everest mountain, He criticized the Earth for more than 3.2 billion years ago.
Ocean surprise
The unexpected result of study showed an unusual behavior by naval plankton. The researchers expected that small organisms will quickly reduce and recover slowly. However, the ocean plankton is likely to have already recovered within six months, and it may then increase “to levels that are not seen under the natural conditions of the climate,” Dai said.
“We were able to track this unexpected response to iron concentration in dust,” Axel Timerman, who is the ICCP director and distinguished professor at Boussan National University, said in a statement.
Iron is the main nutrients of algae, but in areas like Southern Ocean Eastern Eastern Pacific Ocean, metal is not available in abundance. But if the iron content in the Bennu is high and distributed across the ocean, this may lead to unprecedented flowers of algae, especially the type rich in silicate called Diaatoms, for a period of up to three years, according to the study.
This Bennu’s physical image consists of 12 photos collected on December 2 by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft. NASA/Godard/Arizona University
Algae will also attract animal plankton, which are small predators that feed on diatoms.
Excessive simulation Vertebra Dai said: “Animal plankton flowers may be a blessing of biological confusion and may help reduce emerging food insecurity related to the longer decrease in terrestrial productivity.” “However, exclusive plagiarism may have a harmful effect on the diversity of the ecological system. For example, the diatoms have a competitive advantage on small plant plankton under iron -rich conditions in the southern ocean. Clearly wavy flowers can prevent the growth of small plant plankton.”
Drabon said the positive response is some forms of life, especially simple organisms, is something observed in the past.
After that, researchers plan to model the responses that humans may have been early in asteroid strikes, simulating their lifestyles and how they might search for food.
Drabon said: “It is important to realize that the effects on the ground are inevitable. It is just a matter of when and how great it will be.” Everyone knows the effect of killing dinosaurs. However, smaller effects are likely to occur, and thus studying their effects is very important. “
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