Like most planets in our solar system, if we were sat above the North Pole looking down on the Earth, we would see it rotating in an anti clockwise direction 🔄. The forces involved in this spinning motion have shaped the environments and climates that we live in. But what would happen if it rotated the other way?🤔🤔
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Well mathematical equations can be used to model the changes in Earths atmosphere and oceans over time (this is how we can have weather forecasts! 🌦). One of these models is called the Earth System Model (ESM) and this has been used to predict what our planet might be like (the temperature🔥, wind speeds🌪, currents🌊, moisture💧, concentrations of gases🌫, land use🐄 etc…) in many years to come. There are a lot of measurements to consider over a whole lot of space (the entire Earth!🌏), so to make this a little easier the Earth is divided into a 3D grid🌐 (across its surface and in the vertical direction). Even so, however, these equations can only be solved using supercomputers! 🦸♂️💻
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So if we reverse the direction of the spin in these simulations, we can also use this model to test what would happen in this strange scenario 👀. As expected, it is found that countries would experience new climatic conditions due to changes in winds and currents. But it also turns out that if the Earth was rotating clockwise 🔁, we would have fewer deserts and more forests. This would mean more plant life 🌱 and more stores of carbon (which could reduce warming from climate change!)
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#appliedmathematics #theplanets #earth #rotation #backwards #mathsinspace #usingmaths #climatechange #weather #simulation #mathmodeling #predictions #scicomm
What would happen if our planet started spinning the other way?! 🌍👀 Maths can tell us 😃
