The impact of atmospheric and oceanic heat transports on the sea-ice-albedo instability during the Neoproterozoic

Abstract

In order to simulate the climatic conditions of the Neoproterozoic, we have conducted a series of simulations with a coupled ocean–atmosphere model of intermediate complexity, CLIMBER-2, using a reduced solar constant of 6% and varied CO2 concentrations. We have also tested the impact of the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia that has been hypothesized to play an important role in the initiation of an ice-covered Earth. Our results show that for the critical values of 89 and 149 ppm of atmospheric CO2, a snowball Earth occurs in the supercontinent case and in the dislocated configuration, respectively. The study of the sensitivity of the meridional oceanic energy transport to reductions in CO2 concentration and to the dislocation of the supercontinent demonstrates that dynamics ocean processes can modulate the CO2 threshold value, below which a snowball solution is found, but cannot prevent it. The collapse of the overturning cells and of the oceanic heat transport is mainly due to the reduced zonal temperature gradient once the sea-ice line reaches the 30° latitudinal band but also to the freshening of the tropical ocean by sea-ice melt. In term of feedbacks, the meridional atmospheric heat transport via the Hadley circulation plays the major role, all along the CO2 decrease, by increasing the energy brought in the front of the sea-ice margin but does not appear enough efficient to prevent the onset of the sea-ice-albedo instability in the case of the continental configurations tested in this contribution.