Response of a global climate model to a thirty percent reduction of the solar constant

Abstract

An investigation is made of the “white earth” scenario, wherein the positive feedback mechanism, involving temperature, snow/ice cover,and albedo, renders the earth's surface covered with permanent snow freezes the oceans when the solar input is sufficiently low. A three-dimensional energy budget climate model is used to stimulate the earth's response to a 30% decrease in the solar constant. The decrease occurs over a period of 90 years. The model simulates an additional 100 years to allow conditions to stabilize. At the end of the model run, the planetary mean surface temperature is 204.8°K, the oceans are completely frozen over, and the maximum seasonal mean temperature any grid point of the planet is 251.6°K in the western Gobi Desert in JJA. The highest average annual temperature is 238.7°K in western Zaire. A significant portion of the planet's land surface is free of permanent snow cover. The result of this model run suggest that the hydrologic balance may provide a significant negative feedback mechanism to counter the snow/ice-albedo positive feedback mechanism and that the earth's climate may be less sensitive to variations in the solar constant than previously believed.