A general circulation model study of the effects of faster rotation rate, enhanced CO<sub>2</sub> concentration, and reduced solar forcing: Implications for the faint young sun paradox

Jenkins, Gregory S.

doi:10.1029/93jd02056

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In present-day conditions, a change in day length from 24 to 16 h causes a global mean surface warming of about 2 • C (from 14.5 to 16.3 • C, Appendix Fig. A1), in agreement with previous results (Jenkins, 1993b). However, the warming is not homogeneous.…”

Section: Effects Of Faster Earth Rotation Rate and Saltier Oceanssupporting

confidence: 81%

“…The authors explained their results by the ice-albedo feedback, which is enhanced during the Archaean due to a faster Earth rotation rate. This result contrasts with conclusions obtained by Jenkins (1993b) and Jenkins et al (1993) with CCMAO (CC-MAO was the version of the NCAR model at the beginning of the 90s, an atmospheric GCM coupled to a swamp ocean without heat capacity), where a faster rotation rate would have induced a warmer climate. The recent modelling of Archaean climate by Charney et al (2013) using LMDz (an atmospheric GCM coupled to a slab ocean developed by Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) challenged the CLIMBER results (Kienert et al, 2012(Kienert et al, , 2013 and revealed a very limited impact of the faster Earth rotation.…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

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The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

et al. 2014

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Abstract. During the Archaean, the Sun's luminosity was 18 to 25 % lower than the present day. One-dimensional radiative convective models (RCM) generally infer that high concentrations of greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 ) are required to prevent the early Earth's surface temperature from dropping below the freezing point of liquid water and satisfying the faint young Sun paradox (FYSP, an Earth temperature at least as warm as today). Using a one-dimensional (1-D) model, it was proposed in 2010 that the association of a reduced albedo and less reflective clouds may have been responsible for the maintenance of a warm climate during the Archaean without requiring high concentrations of atmospheric CO 2 (pCO 2 ). More recently, 3-D climate simulations have been performed using atmospheric general circulation models (AGCM) and Earth system models of intermediate complexity (EMIC). These studies were able to solve the FYSP through a large range of carbon dioxide concentrations, from 0.6 bar with an EMIC to several millibars with AGCMs. To better understand this wide range in pCO 2 , we investigated the early Earth climate using an atmospheric GCM coupled to a slab ocean. Our simulations include the ice-albedo feedback and specific Archaean climatic factors such as a faster Earth rotation rate, high atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and/or CH 4 , a reduced continental surface, a saltier ocean, and different cloudiness. We estimated full glaciation thresholds for the early Archaean and quantified positive radiative forcing required to solve the FYSP. We also demonstrated why RCM and EMIC tend to overestimate greenhouse gas concentrations required to avoid full glaciations or solve the FYSP. Carbon cycle-climate interplays and conditions for sustaining pCO 2 will be discussed in a companion paper.

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Section: Effects Of Faster Earth Rotation Rate and Saltier Oceanssupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

et al. 2014

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“…30 spring tides/annum in the early Palaeoproterozoic, 26.2 in the late Cryogenian and 24.7 today; Williams, 2000. (2) A faster rotating Proterozoic Earth led to less efficient poleward transport of heat, with a slightly warmer equator and cooler poles (Kuhn et al, 1989;Jenkins, 1993), compounding the enigma of Proterozoic low-palaeolatitude glaciation. (3) The hypothesis that the orbital periods for precession and obliquity have increased with time due to secular increase in the Earth-Moon distance (Berger et al, 1989) is confirmed by the precession period of 19.6 ± 1.1 kyr and the obliquity period of 31.3 ± 3.0 kyr recorded by Late Ordovician-Early Silurian evaporites in Western Australia (Williams, 1991), compared to respective periods of 23 kyr and 41 kyr today.…”

Section: Solar System Mechanics and The Earth's Rotation Ratementioning

confidence: 99%

Secular changes in sedimentation systems and sequence stratigraphy

et al. 2013

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________________________________________________________________________The ephemeral nature of most sedimentation processes and the fragmentary character of the sedimentary record are of first-order importance. Despite a basic uniformity of external controls on sedimentation resulting in markedly similar lithologies, facies, facies associations and depositional elements within the rock record across time, there are a number of secular changes, particularly in rates and intensities of processes that resulted in contrasts between preserved Precambrian and Phanerozoic successions. Secular change encompassed (1) variations in mantle heat, rates of plate drift and of continental crustal growth, the gravitational effects of the Moon, and in rates of weathering, erosion, transport, deposition and diagenesis;(2) a decreasing planetary rotation rate over time; (3) no vegetation in the Precambrian, but prolific microbial mats, with the opposite pertaining to the Phanerozoic; (4) the long-term evolution of the hydrosphere-atmosphere-biosphere system. A relatively abrupt and sharp turning point was reached in the Neoarchaean, with spikes in mantle plume flux and tectonothermal activity and possibly concomitant onset of the supercontinent cycle. Substantial and irreversible change occurred subsequently in the Palaeoproterozoic, whereby the dramatic change from reducing to oxidising volcanic gases ushered in change to an oxic environment, to be followed at ca. 2.4-2.3 Ga by the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE); rise in atmospheric oxygen was accompanied by expansion of oxygenic photosynthesis in the cyanobacteria. A possible global tectono-thermal "slowdown" from ca. 2.45-2.2 Ga may have separated a preceding plate regime which interacted with a higher energy mantle from a ca. 2.2-2.0 Ga Phanerozoicstyle plate tectonic regime; the "slowdown" period also encompassed the first known global-scale glaciation and overlapped with the GOE. While large palaeodeserts emerged from ca. 2.0 -1.8 Ga, possibly associated with the evolution of the supercontinent cycle, widespread euxinia by ca. 1.85 Ga

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“…However, while these simulations are based on an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM), they do not involve full ocean or sea-ice modules. Furthermore, Jenkins (1993a) has reduced the solar constant compared to today by 10 and 15 % which does not correspond to the actual Archean values. Due to a limited number of simulations, no critical CO 2 partial pressure required to prevent the Earth's surface from fully freezing was explicitly identified in these studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these models do not represent any 3-D effects as meridional heat transport or albedo changes due to continents, sea ice or clouds (Kasting, 2010). A few early studies of the Archean climate applied 3-D models (Jenkins, 1993a(Jenkins, , 1996. However, while these simulations are based on an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM), they do not involve full ocean or sea-ice modules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Albedo and heat transport in 3-D model simulations of the early Archean climate

2013

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At the beginning of the Archean eon (ca. 3.8 billion years ago), the Earth's climate state was significantly different from today due to the lower solar luminosity, smaller continental fraction, higher rotation rate and, presumably, significantly larger greenhouse gas concentrations. All these aspects play a role in solutions to the "faint young Sun paradox" which must explain why the ocean surface was not fully frozen at that time. Here, we present 3-D model simulations of climate states that are consistent with early Archean boundary conditions and have different CO₂ concentrations, aiming at an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of the early Archean climate system. In order to do so, we have appropriately modified an intermediate complexity climate model that couples a statistical-dynamical atmosphere model (involving parameterizations of the dynamics) to an ocean general circulation model and a thermodynamic-dynamic sea-ice model. We focus on three states: one of them is ice-free, one has the same mean surface air temperature of 288 K as today's Earth and the third one is the coldest stable state in which there is still an area with liquid surface water (i.e. the critical state at the transition to a "snowball Earth"). We find a reduction in meridional heat transport compared to today, which leads to a steeper latitudinal temperature profile and has atmospheric as well as oceanic contributions. Ocean surface velocities are largely zonal, and the strength of the atmospheric meridional circulation is significantly reduced in all three states. These aspects contribute to the observed relation between global mean temperature and albedo, which we suggest as a parameterization of the ice-albedo feedback for 1-D model simulations of the early Archean and thus the faint young Sun problem

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A general circulation model study of the effects of faster rotation rate, enhanced CO₂ concentration, and reduced solar forcing: Implications for the faint young sun paradox

Cited by 29 publications

References 28 publications

The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

Secular changes in sedimentation systems and sequence stratigraphy

Albedo and heat transport in 3-D model simulations of the early Archean climate

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A general circulation model study of the effects of faster rotation rate, enhanced CO2 concentration, and reduced solar forcing: Implications for the faint young sun paradox

Cited by 29 publications

References 28 publications

The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

The faint young Sun problem revisited with a 3-D climate–carbon model – Part 1

Secular changes in sedimentation systems and sequence stratigraphy

Albedo and heat transport in 3-D model simulations of the early Archean climate

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Product

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A general circulation model study of the effects of faster rotation rate, enhanced CO₂ concentration, and reduced solar forcing: Implications for the faint young sun paradox