Summary
In an earlier paper (Lindzen, 1986), it was shown that allowing CO2 to vary with snow/sea ice position could lead to a greatly enhanced response in glaciation to 100 K year orbital forcing—even when 20 K year forcing was much stronger. In that model, snow/sea ice position (SSIP) and glaciation were different: the former was the forcing for the latter. However, SSIP and glaciation were not decorrelated. Observations (Berner et al., 1979; Lorius et al., 1985; Neftel et al., 1982) suggest that CO2 may be independently related to both SSIP and glaciation. In the present paper, we allow (in a highly simplified manner) such independent dependence, and show how it alters the earlier results. Briefly, the dependence of CO2 on glaciation can contribute to and even cause a highly enhanced response to the 100 K year component of the forcing. However, the CO2 dependence on SSIP is, on the whole, more effective in this regard. Thus, we expect time series of CO2 to show variation on the faster time scales than does glaciation.
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Lindzen, R.S. CO2 feedbacks and the 100 K year cycle in climate. Meteorl. Atmos. Phys. 38, 42–49 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01029946