When would global warming destroy life on Earth? Study hazards a guess.

Image: This is a picture of the surface of Venus, which is hot enough to melt lead, thanks to a runaway greenhouse effect at some point in the planet's past. Two recent studies look at how such processes might occur. JPL/AP/File

csmonitor.com - July 30th, 2013 - Pete Spotts

A runaway greenhouse effect – where a planet's atmosphere traps so much heat that temperatures rise to life-snuffing levels – may be easier to achieve than previously believed. And there may be more than one way to drive the increase.

Those are the implications of two recent studies looking at what planetary scientists describe as one of the fundamental processes that can render a planet uninhabitable.

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