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Research ArticleARTICLES

Geologic constraints on the glacial amplification of Phanerozoic climate sensitivity

Jeffrey Park and Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science January 2011, 311 (1) 1-26; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/01.2011.01
Jeffrey Park
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Dana L. Royer
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Abstract

The long-term carbon cycle depends on many feedbacks. Silicate weathering consumes atmospheric CO2, but is also enhanced by the increased temperatures brought about by this important greenhouse gas. The long-term sensitivity ΔT2x of climate to CO2-doubling modulates the strength of this negative feedback. We update the model-experiment of Royer and others (2007) by estimating an empirical probability-density function (PDF) of ΔT2x for the Phanerozoic by using an improved GEOCARBSULF carbon-cycle model to predict a larger, recalibrated set of proxy-CO2 measurements from the present-day to 420 Ma. The new GEOCARBSULF parameterizes the rapid weathering of volcanic rocks, relative to plutonic rocks. Updates to the carbon-cycle model and the proxy-CO2 data set induce opposing model responses. As a result, our experiment maintains an agreement with ΔT2x estimates based on numerical climate models and late Cenozoic paleoclimate. For a climate sensitivity ΔT2x that is uniform throughout the Phanerozoic, the most probable value is 3° to 4 °C. GEOCARBSULF fits the proxy-CO2 data equally well, and with far more parameter choices, if ΔT2x is amplified by at least a factor of two during the glacial intervals of the Paleozoic (260-340 Ma) and Cenozoic (0-40 Ma), relative to non-glacial intervals of Earth history. For glacial amplification of two, the empirical PDFs for glacial climate sensitivity predict ΔT2x(g)>2.0 °C with ∼99 percent probability, ΔT2x(g)>3.4 °C with ∼95 percent probability, and ΔT2x(g)>4.4 °C with ∼90 percent probability. The most probable values are ΔT2x(g) = 6° to 8 °C. This result supports the notion that the response of Earth's present-day surface temperature will be amplified by the millennial and longer-term waxing and waning of ice sheets.

  • Carbon cycle
  • Bayesian probability
  • climate sensitivity
  • glacial feedback
  • paleoclimate
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American Journal of Science
Vol. 311, Issue 1
January 2011
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Geologic constraints on the glacial amplification of Phanerozoic climate sensitivity
Jeffrey Park, Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science Jan 2011, 311 (1) 1-26; DOI: 10.2475/01.2011.01

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Geologic constraints on the glacial amplification of Phanerozoic climate sensitivity
Jeffrey Park, Dana L. Royer
American Journal of Science Jan 2011, 311 (1) 1-26; DOI: 10.2475/01.2011.01
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • THE GEOCARBSULF CARBON-CYCLE MODEL
    • PROXY-CO2 DATA AND BAYESIAN MODELING
    • CLIMATE SENSITIVITY AND PARAMETER TRADEOFFS
    • DATA FITTING AND DISCUSSION
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