The Faint Young Sun Paradox: A Simplified Thermodynamic Approach
Classical models of the Sun suggest that the energy output in the early stage of its evolution was 30 percent less than today. In this context, radiative balance alone between The Sun and the Earth was not sufficient to explain the early presence of liquid water on Earth’s surface. This difficulty i...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Advances in Astronomy |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/478957 |
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| Summary: | Classical models of the Sun suggest that the energy output in the early stage of its evolution was 30 percent less than today. In this context, radiative balance alone between The Sun and the Earth was not sufficient to explain the early presence of liquid water on Earth’s surface. This difficulty is called the faint young Sun paradox. Many proposals have been published to solve this paradox. In the present work, we propose an oversimplified finite-time thermodynamic approach that describes the air convective cells in the Earth atmosphere. This model introduces two atmospheric modes of thermodynamic performance: a first mode consisting in the maximization of the power output of the convective cells (maximum power regime) and a second mode that consists in maximizing a functional representing a good trade-off between power output and entropy production (the ecological regime). Within the assumptions of this oversimplified model, we present different scenarios of albedo and greenhouse effects that seem realistic to preserve liquid water on the Earth in the early stage of formation. |
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| ISSN: | 1687-7969 1687-7977 |