Factors Promoting a Cool Cambrian Climate: Role of Land Surface Conditions and Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases

In light of recent work suggesting episodic cooling during the Late Cambrian (~500 Ma), an Earth System Model of Intermediate Complexity is utilized to evaluate the roles of Late Cambrian continental configuration, mountain height, and atmospheric CO₂ concentration on Earth's climate. The Planetary Simulator (PLASIM), developed at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg, is utilized at T21 spectral resolution (5.6° latitude x 5.6° longitude) with a 50 m deep slab ocean in four experiments. The first three experiments are run with a Late Cambrian continental configuration. Two experiments are run with an atmospheric CO₂ concentration of 10 x pre-industrial (2800 ppm). This is in the range estimated for the Late Cambrian by carbon cycle modeling studies. One of these experiments utilizes a flat topography (CAMB_FLAT), and the other, includes mountains (CAMB_MTN). A third experiment is identical to CAMB_MTN, but CO₂ is set to 280 ppm (CAMB_COLD). All Cambrian experiments are integrated without any vegetation, and with solar luminosity reduced by 6%. The Cambrian experiments also utilize a uniform land surface boundary condition consisting of sand with an albedo of 0.37. A fourth scenario was run with pre-industrial boundary conditions (modern geography and vegetation and 280 ppm CO₂) as a control experiment (CONTROL). Despite the high level of CO₂, global average temperatures in CAMB_FLAT and CAMB_MTN are cooler than that of CONTROL. In CAMB_COLD, the oceans freeze over completely and 'snowball Earth' conditions are present. These results highlight the importance of vegetation, land surface albedo, and continental position in maintaining an equable climate in modern times. They also suggest that a drop in greenhouse gases during the Cambrian, whether due to reduced natural emissions from biologic or volcanic sources, or an increase in biologic activity in the oceans, could have been responsible for the initiation of cooler climatic conditions.