Abstract
AbstractThe Sun becomes brighter with time, but Earth's climate is roughly temperate for life during its long‐term history; for early Earth, this is known as the faint young Sun problem (FYSP). Besides the carbonate‐silicate feedback, recent researches suggest that a long‐term cloud feedback may partially solve the FYSP. However, the general circulation models they used cannot resolve convection and clouds explicitly. This study re‐investigates the clouds using a near‐global cloud‐permitting model without cumulus convection parameterization. Our results confirm that a stabilizing shortwave cloud feedback does exist, and its magnitude is ≈6 W m−2 or 14% of the energy required to offset a 20% fainter Sun than today, or ≈10 W m−2 or 16% for a 30% fainter Sun. When insolation increases and meanwhile CO2 concentration decreases, low‐level clouds increase, acting to stabilize the climate by raising planetary albedo, and vice versa.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
