3 ms·
>Additionally, the decomposition of dead marine organisms in these zones can release harmful gases such as hydrogen sulfide, which can be toxic to marine life a
by neurobama 3y ago
>Additionally, the decomposition of dead marine organisms in these zones can release harmful gases such as hydrogen sulfide, which can be toxic to marine life and humans.
If human extinction occurs due to climate change, this will be how. Anoxic ocean events can lead to massive emissions of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) into the atmosphere. This is the speculated mechanism for the end-Permian extinction event, also known as the Great Dying, and several other mass extinction events in Earth's history. H2S is immediately dangerous to human life at concentrations as low as 100ppm. It's so dangerous that humans have evolved to smell it in concentrations as low as 100 parts per billion.
UW-Seattle professor Peter Ward has spoken about this at length:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4FIoOKKfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4FIoOKKfc
- xwdv 3y agoHow do we prepare? Some kind of air filtering? Masks?
- neurobama 3y agoMy understanding is that H2S is toxic to nearly all plants and animals. Barring some massive technical leaps, I don't see how humanity survives in the worst-case scenario. H2S on the levels of the Great Dying takes millions of years to clear from the atmosphere. Rich humans living in domes would probably die of equipment failure long before the atmosphere became safe once again for human life. The H2S in question is produced mainly by sulfate-reducing bacteria in the ocean, so targeting these microorganisms might be one way to stave off disaster. That would require massive bio-engineering on a scale never before seen in history. Right now we're just crossing our fingers and hoping we can reduce carbon emissions and ocean warming fast enough, and that we don't trigger (or haven't already triggered) runaway warming feedback loops such as the clathrate gun hypothesis.