Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmpp21b1692k&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #PP21B-1692
Mathematics
Logic
0426 Biosphere/Atmosphere Interactions (0315), 0428 Carbon Cycling (4806), 0473 Paleoclimatology And Paleoceanography (3344, 4900), 1622 Earth System Modeling (1225)
Scientific paper
Terrestrial vegetation substantially altered the rate of silicate rock weathering and thereby affected the long- term evolution of atmospheric carbon dioxide throughout the Phanerozoic. Without this biotic enhancement, the Earth's climate would be far too warm for an ice-age climatic regime. But why did such biotic effects emerge, and why with the particular, observed magnitude? Here I argue that the emergent large-scale functioning of the atmosphere-biosphere system is the result of its tendency to maximize the planetary rate of entropy production to the extent that is biologically possible. If we assume that tropical cloud cover increases with surface temperature, a maximum in planetary entropy production should exist because of the contrasting sensitivities of cloud cover and ice/snow cover to surface temperature, resulting in a minimum planetary albedo. I use a conceptual climate model to illustrate that (a) the long-term evolution towards an ice-age climatic regime and (b) the response of temperature and carbon dioxide to variations in solar radiation contrast between tropical and polar regions can both be understood as the emergent result of an optimizing biosphere. This perspective does not pinpoint to one particular mechanism, but rather focuses on what should be expected as the most likely overall Earth system response to external forcings.
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