Scientists Issue ‘Stark Warning’ Moon Could END Humanity By 2030

 

The moon affects our planet in a startling number of ways from animal migration and the spawning of corals on the great barrier reef to plant pollenization and of course the tides of our earth's oceans but along with climate change spurring rising oceans and the moon's cyclical influences on those oceans comes a threat that humanity cannot ignore and it's barely a decade away welcome to Science Reads in today's article we explore

 why we have a moon why earth's relationship with the moon is unique and changing and how its coming cycle and wobble combines with climate change to create a dangerous dilemma the generally accepted model for the origin of our moon is that in our planet's very early days some 30 to 50 million years after

 the formation of the solar system

 the proto-earth was struck by a mars-sized proto-plant and astronomers called thea

 the exact mechanisms that left us with the largest satellite by ratio to host planet in the solar system are still being unraveled while most scientists agree with the collision origin model whether it was one single or multiple collisions with thea is hotly debated recent studies suggest a faster initial hit and run impact set up a slower collision hundreds of thousands of years later in the early years of proto-earth such cataclysmic collisions were relatively commonplace in our cosmic neighborhood thankfully not so much anymore other theories exist such as the 2012 proposal that two massive objects five times the size of Thea collided and both the earth and moon were formed out of the event still another suggests that earth's gravity reached out and grabbed a passing body some have even suggested that earth looted our moon from nearby Venus again the details are up for debate but scientists generally agree on the giant impact hypotheses the smoking gun was found in 2016 using a just developed technique for analyzing isotopes from both the earth and moon with far greater precision the results were game-changing scientists found by analyzing samples brought back to earth by the apollo missions of the 1970s that isotope compositions of lunar and terrestrial samples are virtually identical potassium isotopes however reveal differences between seven lunar rocks and terrestrial samples can only be explained by an extremely violent collision between the earth and Thea so violent that the moon was formed by the vaporizing and mixing of the earth mantle with Thea is this the final word undoubtedly no but evidence is coalescing around the high impact model as the explanation for our moon the moon's origin has been set at 4.51 billion years ago using a speck of the mineral zircon collected by Apollo 17 astronauts this date is older than previously thought and much sooner after the solar system formed 4.56 billion years ago even earlier samples collected on the Apollo 11 mission humanities first to another world over 50 years ago still provides an amazing record of the moon's evolution at the time of the moon's formation an observer on proto-earth would see a vastly different site than now with its orbit only fifteen thousand to twenty thousand miles that's twenty four thousand to thirty two thousand kilometers away instead of the current two hundred thirty eight thousand mile that's 383 000 kilometer distance our satellite looked 15 times as wide in the sky it also glowed a dull red due to its outer surface being a deep magma ocean that may have existed as long as 200 million years and our earth rotated at a blistering pace as little as four hours for a single day but in part because of our cosmic neighbor's gravitational influence the days rapidly grew longer when earth was 30 000 years old the day had lengthened to six hours and by 60 million years of existence the terrestrial day was 10 hours the moon was also steadily moving away from earth so by 4 billion years ago it reached some 80 000 miles or 129 000 kilometers distant much further from our planet but still a striking three times as large in the earth's sky as now it is still moving away at a rate of 3.78 centimeters or 1.48 inches per year this is due to the earth's tides which we will dive further into in a moment the moon's gravity causes the oceans to bulge thus we have tides but because of the rotation of the earth some of the planet's spinning energy is transferred to the tidal bulge this keeps the bulge slightly ahead of the moon and feeds a small amount of energy into our satellite in turn the moon is pushed into a slightly higher orbit somewhat like the faster outside lanes of a racetrack we are moving further apart but at the same time our earth and its relationship with the moon is about to change as we noted the moon exercises a strong

 influence on our planet and has since long before the first microorganisms appeared and while it seems stable and constant our satellite actually wobbles and goes through regular cycles every 18.6 years the moon's orbit which is on a plane tilted about 5 degrees relative to the earth's orbit around the sun intersects earth's orbit and wobbles in half of the 18.6 year cycle the regular daily ocean tides are suppressed meaning high

 tides are lower and low tides are higher in the other half it's the opposite so

 the high and low tides are amplified

 currently we are in an amplifying part of the moon cycle that will last until the mid-2020s during this time the coastal areas are not experiencing a major influence in tidal flooding but that is about to change the tidal suppression cycle will start in about four years and continue through the early to mid 2030s but the rate of rising sea levels has more than doubled since 1993 due to a combination of melt water from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of ocean water due to increasing temperatures before the moon's next cycle of producing higher tidewaters coastal areas are affected by two dangers one is the effect of higher background water levels bringing more destructive and deadly

 storm surges as we've seen in recent times the other is high tide or nuisance flooding which does not generally threaten lives but is expensive and disruptive to deal with and some may be lulled to sleep by the cycle set to start in the mid 2020s that will partially temper effects of rising sea levels that would be a big mistake in just over 10 years the moon will start an almost nine year cycle of pulling ocean tides higher and by then sea levels are projected to be 10 inches 24 centimeters or even more than at present geological features in regional ocean currents will impact the extent of tidal damage to coastal areas but all are in danger eight of earth's 10 largest cities are near coast as is 40 percent of the world's population that population number is rising due to economic benefits of tourism along with industrial and urban development and the very predictable results of the moon's wobble and devastating climate change will put all their lives at risk how much so for starters island nations will submerge even faster than they already are when the moon begins its next wave of gravitation pull on the oceans and not just tiny resort islands already sink in Jakarta the Indonesian capital with half its land under sea level and home to 10 million people faces becoming virtually uninhabitable when the swollen ocean tides wash over its streets ever been to Venice you may want to consider it soon Hawaii loses an estimated eight feet of shoreline for every inch of rising sea level Bangkok was 20 underwater after monsoon flooding a decade ago and like jakarta is sinking half of new orleans is below sea level when in 1895 only five percent of the city was below sea level basra tokyo new york city the list goes on and on and it's not just buildings and infrastructure at risk when the moon once again begins its increased tug on earth's oceans the moon's influence combined with sharply rising sea levels will dramatically increase salinization as seawater inundates coastal estuaries and other formerly fresh water sources a great example of this danger is Miami-Dade county Florida where the Biscayne aquifer supplies drinking water to 3 million people this is a 4 000 square mile or 10 396 square centimeter area of shallow and porous limestone whose air pockets take in rain and river water clean it and supply Miami-dade county while protecting it from being overrun by the inland water ahead of the coming rise in tidal surges due to the moon's influence climate change is pushing salt water further inland and increasing salinity of the Biscayne aquifer whose very nature makes it highly vulnerable to intruding salt water remove the fresh water supply for three million residents and you've created a ghost town already ghost forests full of dead and dying trees are appearing along coastlines because of rising seas and climate change bringing salt water in from above while it seeps in from below nasa predicts flooding in coastal areas will rapidly increase and sometimes happen in clusters lasting a month or longer when the moon and earth line up in specific ways in relation to each other and the sun this could bring deadly flooding from the devastating high tides that are inevitably coming besides the political sociological and

 cultural upheaval guaranteed with flooding the world's most populated areas the health risks to humanity are almost unimaginable shallow pools of water with limited circulation in coastal areas become intense breeding grounds for everything from mosquito-borne illnesses to toxic algae and fecal oral diseases fresh water sources disappear and while desalinization is possible is also kind of expensive strain water supplies directly affect everything from sanitation to the spread of infectious diseases farming along with wildlife will suffer from invading seawater same for marshes and wetlands an interesting anomaly in studying the coming effects of the moon in our rising oceans and vulnerable populations is in which groups will be hardest hit while we tend to think of lower socioeconomic groups as being most vulnerable in public health crises the most endangered in this instance may be wealthier populations because they got the resources to be able to live closer to the beach and they will likely be older exacerbating health issues that will come hand in hand with flooding and salination so what do you think about our moon's threat to civilization do we have time to reverse our climate trajectory before the next wobble pull sea water over our cities and waterways tell us in the comments