Simulating the Archean Earth's Atmosphere and Surface to Solve the Young Faint Sun Paradox

Investigating the early earth faint young sun problem with a general circulation model

Authors:

M. Kunze, M. Godolt, U. Langematz, J.L. Grenfell, A. Hamann-Reinus, and H. Rauer

Abstract:

The faint young Sun problem, i.e. the contradiction of a reduced solar luminosity by 15–25% during the Archaean and the geological evidence for relatively high surface temperatures that allowed the presence of liquid water, is still mostly open. It is suggested that the cooling induced by a fainter Sun was e.g. offset by higher levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) during the Archaean, but achieving the amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) that are necessary to solve the problem can not be supported by proxy data and the estimates of other additional GHGs diverge.

In our study we investigate this problem by using the Climate model EMAC with a spectrally resolved irradiance dataset valid for the Archaean epoch of the Earth. Our experimental setup contains a series of model runs which allow the investigation of the role of the continents, the ozone and oxygen content of the atmosphere, the solar luminosity, and the CO2 concentration on the climate of the Archaean.

Replacing the present day continents with a global ocean lead to a warming at the surface by ∼3 K and an intensified hydrological cycle. The generation of planetary waves and their propagation to the middle atmosphere is reduced, which intensifies the polar night jet and decelerates the Brewer-Dobson circulation. Slightly lower global annual mean temperatures can be found for an anoxic atmosphere. The absent ozone heating in the middle atmosphere, leads to very low temperatures in the middle atmosphere and a vanishing polar night jet, whereas the subtropical jets and the Hadley circulation are intensified. The reduction of the solar luminosity to 82% of the present value leads to a globally ice-covered planet and very dry conditions. Prescribing 10 times the present atmospheric level of CO2 with the same solar luminosity lead to a broad belt of liquid surface water throughout the year, although the global annual mean temperature is below the freezing point of water. On reducing the solar luminosity to 77% of the present value with the same amount of CO2, the area of ice-free ocean water narrows, but still suggesting a habitable environment during the Archaean for a CO2 concentration consistent with paleosol data.