Exact month 500m asteroid could crash into Earth amid 'catastrophic winter' warning A massive asteroid heading towards Earth could cause a terrifying "impact winter" by kicking up dust and blocking out the sun.
Asteroid Bennu has a diameter of about 500 metre, and could collide with Earth in September, 2182, which gives us plenty of time to prepare, but a study, published in Science Advances, exploring how such an event could disrupt global climate and ecosystems, also explained how slim are the chances of a hit.
“The abrupt impact winter would provide unfavourable climate conditions for plants to grow, leading to an initial 20–30% reduction of photosynthesis in terrestrial and marine ecosystems," says Dr. Lan Dai, postdoctoral research fellow at the ICCP and lead author of the study.
This would likely cause massive disruptions in global food security.” The research revealed that marine ecosystems may show resilience, with plankton populations recovered within six months due to iron-enriched dust promoting algae blooms.
Results show that this "impact winter" could cause global surface temperatures to drop by up to 4°C, rainfall to decrease by 15%, and ozone levels to deplete by 32%.
