Faint young Sun problem more severe due to ice-albedo feedback and higher rotation rate of the early Earth
Open accessAbstract
During the Archean (3.8–2.5 billion years ago), the Sun was up to 25% less luminous than today, yet there is strong evidence that the Earth's ocean surface was not completely frozen. The most obvious solutions to this ‘faint young Sun problem’ demand high concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Here we present the first comprehensive 3‐dimensional simulations of the Archean climate that include processes as the sea‐ice albedo feedback and the higher rotation rate of the Earth. These effects lead to CO2 partial pressures required to prevent the Earth from freezing that are significantly higher than previously thought. For the early Archean, we find a critical CO2partial pressure of 0.4 bar in contrast to 0.06 bar estimated in previous studies with 1‐dimensional radiative‐convective models. Our results suggest that currently favored greenhouse solutions could be in conflict with constraints emerging for the middle and late Archean.
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Estimates using 3D global climate models that include ice-albedo feedback suggest that a very high amount of CO2 of up to 0.4 bar is needed in the early Archean.
“Estimates using 3D global climate models that include ice-albedo feedback suggest that a very high amount of CO 2 of up to 0.4 bar are needed in the early Archean (Kienert et al. 2012).”
From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Kienert et al. 2012
The 3D models require a higher CO2 concentration due to the ice-albedo feedback effect.
“where the 3D models require a higher CO 2 concentration due to the ice-albedo feedback effect.”
From The young Sun's XUV-activity as a constraint for lower CO2-limits in the Earth's Archean atmosphere (2021) · cites this paper as Kienert et al. 2012
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- Authors
- Kienert, H., Feulner, G., & Petoukhov, V.
- Affiliations
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Kienert, Hendrik
- ORCID
- Feulner, Georg
- Venue
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2012-12-15
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 23
- ISSN
- 0094-8276 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-8007
- OpenAlex
- W1572654037
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 7
- FWCI
- 3.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Geophysical Research Letters (publishedVersion)
- Publication Database PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Keywords
- sea ice albedo feedback, Earth rotation rate, partial pressure of CO2, greenhouse gases, early Earth climate
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