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Neoproterozoic ‘snowball Earth’ simulations with a coupled climate/ice-sheet model

Nature volume 405, pages 425–429 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Ice sheets may have reached the Equator in the late Proterozoic era (600–800 Myr ago), according to geological and palaeomagnetic studies, possibly resulting in a ‘snowball Earth’. But this period was a critical time in the evolution of multicellular animals, posing the question of how early life survived under such environmental stress. Here we present computer simulations of this unusual climate stage with a coupled climate/ice-sheet model. To simulate a snowball Earth, we use only a reduction in the solar constant compared to present-day conditions and we keep atmospheric CO2 concentrations near present levels. We find rapid transitions into and out of full glaciation that are consistent with the geological evidence. When we combine these results with a general circulation model, some of the simulations result in an equatorial belt of open water that may have provided a refugium for multicellular animals.

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Figure 1: Late Precambrian geography.
Figure 2: Operating curve for the climate/ice-sheet model.
Figure 3: The effect of ice dynamics on model results for an experiment with -5 W m-2 of infrared forcing.
Figure 4: Late Precambrian (Neoproterozoic) climate simulations.
Figure 5: The effect of precipitation on global ice volume.

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Acknowledgements

We thank I. Dalziel and L. Gahagan for the plate reconstructions, and N. Christie-Blick, N. Eyles, I. Dalziel, P. Hoffman, M. Huber, A. Knoll and D. Schrag for comments and suggestions. We thank P. Smith for helping to prepare the cover picture. This research was supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council fo Canada, and by the NSF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, 77843-3146, Texas, USA

    William T. Hyde, Thomas J. Crowley & Steven K. Baum

  2. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Ontario, Canada

    W. Richard Peltier

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Correspondence to William T. Hyde.

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Hyde, W., Crowley, T., Baum, S. et al. Neoproterozoic ‘snowball Earth’ simulations with a coupled climate/ice-sheet model. Nature 405, 425–429 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35013005

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