What If Earth Had Atmosphere Like Venus?

Welcome to your new Earth, a world where the sky is no longer blue but a thick yellowish haze. A deep breath is no longer refreshing but instead will suffocate you, and the ground beneath your feet is so hot that it's melting your shoes. No, this isn't a nightmare you can snap out of. Earth's atmosphere has transformed into the conditions of our planetary neighbor and so-called evil twin, Venus.

What deadly conditions should you prepare for? How would this radically transform our planet? Would this be the end of all life on Earth? This is "What If," and here's what would happen if Earth had an atmosphere like Venus.

At a distance of 108 million km from the Sun, Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun in our solar system. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the planet of love is a broiling hot inferno. On its surface, temperatures soar beyond 460°C, and the atmosphere is dense with carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid, causing Venus to have a surface pressure nearly 100 times that of Earth. This would make it feel like you're living approximately 900 m underwater.

Astronomers suggest things weren't always this way. A long time ago, Venus might have had a climate not so different from our own. There might even have been oceans. Yes, you heard that right—big, watery oceans. But those days are long gone. Over time, the planet's atmosphere built up excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases, trapping heat from the Sun and paving the way for a runaway greenhouse effect. Now the planet has essentially become an apocalyptic wasteland. This was the catastrophic endgame of global warming for Venus. There was so much heat trapped that the surface temperature just kept rising. Any and all water in the planet's ancient oceans would have boiled away, leaving nothing but a scorched hellscape.

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Earth's average global temperature is approximately 15°C. So, assuming this atmospheric transformation happened overnight, from one day to the next, the temperature would jump by several hundred degrees. I don't understand how you slept through that. In reality, it's impossible for this transformation to happen in an instant, but that's the nightmare you've woken up to. You better be ready to act fast if you want any chance of surviving.

As I mentioned before, the temperatures wouldn't be the only lethal ingredient in the air. You wouldn't be able to breathe. The atmosphere would be comprised mostly of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulfuric acid. Hopefully, you've got some sort of gas mask on hand. That's because with each breath, you'd risk getting severe chemical burns to your internal tissues. And we haven't even gotten to the crushing pressure of the atmosphere around you. I hate to break it to you, but you'd likely get crushed to death before you even experience the temperature.

But today would be the luckiest day of your entire life. Like an expert "What If" fan, you'd be prepared for anything with a highly advanced protective suit right next to your bed. Putting this on, you'd be safe from the heat and intense pressure and well-equipped with a breathable supply of oxygen. Hopefully, your friends and family did the same because if you left your house to check out what kind of effect the atmosphere is having on the planet, get ready for some apocalyptic sights.

The once-clear blue sky would now be a thick, oppressive canvas of yellow with massive clouds of sulfuric acid. Even though they'd block out most of the sun, this wouldn't do anything to mitigate the oven-like conditions on the ground. If you have a well-landscaped front lawn and garden, you could kiss that goodbye. Even the trees lining your street, once green and full of life, would crumble at your touch. And it would be like this everywhere. Forests, which used to be the lungs of our planet, would be reduced to desolate landscapes of blackened tree skeletons. Birds would fall out of the sky, land animals would gasp their last breaths, and even fish would bubble out of the sea. Bodies of water all over the planet would be at their boiling point. This would make for a devastating image of the future, and believe me when I say, be prepared for nothing to get better anytime soon, or ever.

If Earth's atmosphere were to stay like this over time, you'd watch the planet transform into being completely inhospitable. Oceans, lakes, and rivers would continue to boil until they were bone dry, leaving only the skeletons of the sea creatures that once populated them. With enough time, even the things that used to symbolize humanity's achievements would become grotesque sculptures of what they once were. The relentless heat and pressure would warp buildings and melt glass. Bridges would collapse into the empty riverbeds they used to span. Roads would become cracked and undrivable. Not that you'd be able to manage to get far in a vehicle anyway; your car would be subject to the same conditions. There's a good chance your tires would just melt away right underneath you.

Your only chance of survival in this particularly unforgiving atmosphere would be to head underground. You and whoever else has survived this disastrous event would need to build subterranean shelters in the planet's crust. These underground habitats would need to protect you from the heat above but, more importantly, recreate the breathable atmosphere you were once familiar with. With the right design, you might even power them entirely by harnessing geothermal energy from the planet's core. But other than the humans and other animal species we'd save by bringing them into these shelters, life would effectively vanish on the surface of the planet. Earth as we knew it would be gone forever, and there'd be little hope of getting it back.

Look at Venus. Do you think we'll be living there anytime soon? Scientists think that the only chance of us living on that planet would be to build above it and live in air balloons in the sky. Could we do that on Earth? Well, in theory, yes, but this scenario happened too fast for us to react in time. What's really terrifying here is the fact that Venus used to be a planet with a comfortable atmosphere full of water. With Earth getting warmer and warmer each year, are we on a crash course to become just like this terrifying death planet?

Obviously, we won't be exactly like Venus for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is that we're too far away from the Sun to reach temperatures of over 460°C. But that's not to say that Earth won't become uninhabitable as it heats up. Humans, animals, and every other species of wildlife will need to find new ways to live on this big blue marble. Maybe climate change, forest fires, pollution, and overall conditions will get so bad for us humans that we'll be forced to leave Earth. But that sounds like a story for another "What If."