Snowball Earth

[mankoff]

Extreme glacial events – the so-called "snowball Earth" intervals – are by far the coldest periods in Earth history, with evidence of ice sheets existing even in tropical regions. By trying to identify the key climate forcings that could have led to such cold conditions, we seek to understand the full natural range of climate variability on Earth. In this report, we simulate the effects of major changes to certain climate forcings in an effort to reproduce, with our model, the climatic conditions suggested by the geologic record. We find that while the combination of reduced solar luminosity, atmospheric CO2 levels, and ocean heat transports does cool the planet significantly, it is still not sufficient to reproduce the first-order characteristics of the Sturtian snowball Earth glaciation.

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