Understanding life on Earth - just how lucky are we?

Jan 26, 2021

Ocean clouds seen from space with satellite in corner.

It is a near miracle that our planet has remained habitable for 3 billion years. Image: Unsplash/NASA

Toby Tyrrell

Professor of Earth System Science, University of Southampton

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SDG 15: Life on Land

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Climate-altering: the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines blasted so much ash into the atmosphere that global temperatures temporarily dropped by 0.6˚C.

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines blasted so much ash into the atmosphere that global temperatures temporarily dropped by 0.6˚C. Image: SRA Blaze Lipowski / picryl

Repeat runs in the simulation were not identical: 1,000 different planets were generated randomly and each run twice. (a) results on first run, (b) results on second run. Green circles show success (stayed habitable for 3 billion years) and black failure.

With 1,000 generated planet, green dots represent those habitable for 3 billion years. Image: Toby Tyrrell

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