Water if life. What would life be like with less water?
November 7, 2015 4:49 AM Subscribe
What would happen to earth if we suddenly had 10% less water? The mass of the planet would change, so would our orbit? Would weather and seasons change? Would it affect tides and the moon? At what point would we begin to suffer? Is it 10% or 20% or 50%?
Yes, I am writing a little something and this is the premise.
Yes, I am writing a little something and this is the premise.
The loss of water would not affect the moon. The water on earth, if made into a giant drop, would be 865 miles in diameter. Not much by way of gravitational pull. 96.5 percent is in the oceans. Are people losing freshwater? I assume a permanent loss from total water, otherwise the water will be replaced over time.
Water in the atmosphere is a sort of greenhouse gas. So I suspect the world would be colder.
You would screw with the circulation of the oceans, so the far south and far north will get colder, especially along the coasts which rely on this circulation to be temperate. This might create an Ice age. I say far but that would include England which is about the latitude of the south end of Hudson Bay.
Cities that depended on their existences by being ports would have to reposition over the newly formed dry land in order to be on the coast. This land would likely be flat and prone to storm surges in hurricanes.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:19 AM on November 7, 2015
Water in the atmosphere is a sort of greenhouse gas. So I suspect the world would be colder.
You would screw with the circulation of the oceans, so the far south and far north will get colder, especially along the coasts which rely on this circulation to be temperate. This might create an Ice age. I say far but that would include England which is about the latitude of the south end of Hudson Bay.
Cities that depended on their existences by being ports would have to reposition over the newly formed dry land in order to be on the coast. This land would likely be flat and prone to storm surges in hurricanes.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:19 AM on November 7, 2015
Sounds like a question to ask over at What If.
posted by cozenedindigo at 7:34 AM on November 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by cozenedindigo at 7:34 AM on November 7, 2015 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: I assume a permanent loss
Yes, that is what I am thinking of. Like taking a sip from a glass of water - there simply is less in the glass after.
Why the hurricanes?
posted by krautland at 10:33 AM on November 7, 2015
Yes, that is what I am thinking of. Like taking a sip from a glass of water - there simply is less in the glass after.
Why the hurricanes?
posted by krautland at 10:33 AM on November 7, 2015
The storm surge for hurricanes would be damaging because the port cities would move into the land that appeared when the sea drew back.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2015
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2015
Some changes that come to mind are:
Damaging ecosystems in shallow water. I guess fish would be able to find new shallow waters, but corals, barnacles, some seaweed etc might not be so lucky. I guess this would have a big knock on effect.
Problems with shipping - boats would be unable to to get to established ports, some routes may not be navigable anymore (suiz and panama canals? English channel?). The flip side is land bridges would appear between places that had been islands.
Interference with atmospheric systems - less evaporation from the surface of the ocean, changes in ocean currents, maybe differences in albedo will have an effect.
I wonder if the water table inland would drop too? That might make it more difficult to get to fresh water.
posted by Ned G at 11:13 AM on November 9, 2015
Damaging ecosystems in shallow water. I guess fish would be able to find new shallow waters, but corals, barnacles, some seaweed etc might not be so lucky. I guess this would have a big knock on effect.
Problems with shipping - boats would be unable to to get to established ports, some routes may not be navigable anymore (suiz and panama canals? English channel?). The flip side is land bridges would appear between places that had been islands.
Interference with atmospheric systems - less evaporation from the surface of the ocean, changes in ocean currents, maybe differences in albedo will have an effect.
I wonder if the water table inland would drop too? That might make it more difficult to get to fresh water.
posted by Ned G at 11:13 AM on November 9, 2015
Doggerland, which may have been submerged only a bit more than eight thousand years ago, comprised not just the English Channel but most of the area of the North Sea spanning between Denmark and the British Isles.
posted by XMLicious at 12:24 PM on November 9, 2015
posted by XMLicious at 12:24 PM on November 9, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by XMLicious at 5:00 AM on November 7, 2015