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Dependence of climate states of gray atmosphere on solar constant: From the runaway greenhouse to the snowball states
Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Graduate School of Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
Multiple equilibrium solutions of a gray atmosphere are investigated for various values of the solar constant. Two types of models are utilized in order to conduct a comparative study: a general circulation model with simplified physical processes (GCM) and a one-dimensional energy balance model (EBM). For intermediate values of solar constant, both of the models indicate the existence of multiple solutions that include the runaway greenhouse state in addition to the globally ice-covered state and the partially ice-covered state. In the GCM results, there is no partially ice-covered state with the ice line latitude lower than 22°. This indicates that the large ice cap instability discussed in previous EBM studies also occurs in GCM. Compared to the results of EBM, the ice line of the partially ice-covered state of GCM reaches lower latitudes. The appearance of the large ice cap instability in our GCM is impeded by condensation heating at the ice lines. The efficient latitudinal heat transport in the Hadley cell is considered to be a contributing factor to this delay in ice cap expansion.
Received 4 April 2006; accepted 2 May 2007; published 13 July 2007.
Citation: (2007), Dependence of climate states of gray atmosphere on solar constant: From the runaway greenhouse to the snowball states, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D13120, doi:10.1029/2006JD007368.
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