Experiment Darkness – Earth as a snowball

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700 million years ago, Earth was completely covered in ice, as sediments in the ocean indicate. In the experiment “Darkness“, scientists simulated this frozen state by “switching off” the warming sun. Within fifteen simulated years, our earth would be completely iced over at minus 100 degrees centigrade. An ice age that is irreversible, for even if we were to turn the sun back on, the ice would be here to stay. Only a very high content in greenhouse gases, produced for instance by the eruption of a super volcano, could thaw the earth again.

Concept: Starting point is a scientific computer simulation. The film tells the “story behind”.

Production: for Max Planck Society
Author: Nicola Wettmarshausen
Length: 3.05 min.

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