‘Wheel of Time’ is set thousands of years from now, yet it’s still burdened with today’s climate change

“Wheel of Time”, a 14-book epic fantasy, has been made into an Amazon Prime TV series. It is a medieval-style adventure set during the Third Age of the World of the Wheel. Although not explicitly stated in the storyline Notes from the late authorThe First Age may actually have been modern-day Earth. It ended with a dramatic event (perhaps climate change). We can estimate that the show took place around 18,000 years ago.

For climate scientistsLike us, this raises an interesting question. Would the World of the Wheel still experience climate change today, even after all these years?

About 25% CarbonThe atmosphere will continue to retain the dioxide that was emitted today for at least 18,000 years. According to Models of biogeochemistryCarbon dioxide levels could rise to 1,100 parts per Million (ppm) by that time. This is compared to a current value of 415ppm. This value assumes that Paris climate goals are exceeded and that many natural carbon resources will also be released to the atmosphere (melting Permafrost, as an example).

However, high carbon dioxide concentrations don’t necessarily indicate a high level of health. Warmer climate. Slow changes in the orbital and tiltal positions of the planet are more important over such a long time. This is called the Milankovitch Cycle. Each cycle lasts approximately 100,000 years. We are at the peak of this cycle and the planet will naturally cool in the next 50,000 years. This is why scientists used to be concerned about an ice age.

But will this be enough for the remaining carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to heat up? The image below shows an alternative to the iconic warming stripes, which have been a symbol of climate change for the past 150 years. It is instead shown over 1,000,000 Years:

The 100,000 year Milankovitch cycles can be clearly seen. Anything red can be considered Anthrogenic climate change, and the events of “Wheel of Time”, are well within this period. Even the descending Milankovitch Cycle won’t be able to stop the increase in carbon dioxide. Therefore, the World of the Wheel residents would still experience elevated temperatures as a result of a climate crises that occurred 18,000 years ago.

Simulating the weather around the world

However, some weather changes due to the still-elevated temperature could be offset with other factors. Geologically speaking, these 18,000 years don’t seem very long. In normal circumstances, landmasses would not change that much. In this fantasy, however, magical channelers “broke the world” at the end the Second Age, creating several supercontinents.

We used an algorithm to find out how the climate would be in the World of the Wheel. Exoplanet model. This complex computer program uses fundamental principles in physics to simulate weather patterns on the hypothetical planet. It was created after we had input its topography based upon hand-drawn maps of our world and carbon dioxide levels. 830ppmBased on one the high potential future carbon pathways.

Our model predicts that the World of the Wheel will be warm across the entire surface with temperatures never falling below freezing, except in the mountains. There is no chance of a white Christmas in the future. This is where science and story diverge. Snow is mentioned in the Wheel of Time at times. Robert Jordan, the late great Robert Jordan, may not have imagined the long-term consequences of climate change.

The World of the Wheel would have stronger high-altitude jet streams, which are more flexible and flexible than those on Earth today. This is likely due to the presence of more mountain ranges in the World of the Wheel that generate Rossby waves which cause oscillations within the jet. There is. Some evidence is limitedThe jet stream is also affected by climate change, but this is less important than the mountain ranges. The jet would bring water from the western ocean onto land, and deposit it in the mountains of Dhoom. Surprising then, that this region (The Great Blight) is so desert-like in the books—perhaps there is some magic at play to explain this.

Winds would often blow downslope, often around two large mountains, Shayol Ghul and Dragonmount. The Dragonmount peak is almost always surrounded with clouds. This is because the mountain is so big that the winds driving up it force the surface moisture to higher altitudes, cooling it and forming clouds.

Winds that are so different from the modern-day Earth are primarily due to topography and not climate change. However, the World of the Wheel shows that even though carbon pollution has been long-standing, the temperature of the residents is still much higher than usual.

It is important to recognize the long-term effects of climate change. This should be a catalyst for action. Even though we accept the facts, there are psychological barriers that prevent us from taking action. This is due to the fact that understanding the timescales of climate changes requires a lot of abstraction. But, considering the known changes in Extreme weatherFrom Climate ChangeWe must ask ourselves, given the timeframe for these changes, how can the mysterious and powerful Aes sedai stop it? Climate crisis?

This article has been republished from The ConversationUnder Creative Commons license Please read the Original article.