A stratocumulus layer over the northwestern Pacific Ocean about 460 miles northeast of Honshu, Japan, seen from the International Space Station. (Photo11: NASA)

Much of the planet's clouds could disappear if the carbon dioxide we continue to inject into our atmosphere reaches extreme levels. new study suggests.

The absence of these cooling clouds would then trigger a rise in global temperatures, up to 14 degrees, melting the polar ice and leaving the coastal cities under water.

For this to happen, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in our atmosphere are expected to triple from about 400 parts per million to 1,200 ppm over the next century.

This extreme level of carbon dioxide, although unlikely, could "be achieved in a century with high emission scenarios," the study says.

"I think and hope that technological changes will reduce carbon emissions, so that we will not reach such concentrations of CO2," said lead author of the study, Tapio Schneider , scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "But our results show that there are dangerous thresholds of climate change that we were not aware of."

The burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere of our planet.

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At the current rate of carbon emissions – known as the "status quo" scenario – "the value of 1,200 ppm will be exceeded by 2,104," said Malta's Meinshausen of the University of Melbourne at the 39 ;France Media Agency.

The clouds in question are stratocumulus, the most common type of cloud on Earth, according to the British government. Vast layers of low, gray or white clouds cover up to 20% of the planet's oceans.

The authors of the study suggest that the fragmentation of these cloud layers of stratocumulus could have contributed to greenhouse climates, such as 50 million years ago, when crocodiles crawled across the Arctic.

Other scientists have warned that the results of the study are still very uncertain. In an interview with Carbon Brief, Andrew Dessler, professor of atmospheric science at Texas A & M, said that he was "not worried yet". He suggests that the findings of the study be considered "unreliable" until more work is done on this topic and other groups / models can replicate it. "

The study was published Monday in the British journal Nature Geoscience.

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