3 ms·
Yeah, the atmosphere is by far the biggest effect. Geothermal heating (especially by radioisotopes) is a rounding error in this case.
by Robotbeat 5y ago
Yeah, the atmosphere is by far the biggest effect. Geothermal heating (especially by radioisotopes) is a rounding error in this case.
- Retric 5y agoIt’s also directly meaningful difference because ice floats and provides insulation. Even a runaway greenhouse atmosphere provides nowhere near as much insulation as a 1km thick ice sheet. Seemingly minimal amounts of geothermal heat should provided thousands of cubic km worth of oceans for life to live in during the three snowball earths believed to have happened. This is also why Europa’s −171 °C surface temperature is believed to give way to liquid oceans.