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# Amplified cooling of Snowball Earth from a salt-albedo feedback

## Details

**Authors** Samuelsberg et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Climate of the Past

**Discipline** Climatology

**Secondary disciplines** Geology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-1499-2026) 
10.5194/cp-22-1499-2026

## In authors' words

### Abstract

It is believed that the atmospheric circulation on Snowball Earth produced a net ablation zone exposing bare sea ice. Under sufficiently low temperatures, salt begins to precipitate out of sea ice, forming a lag deposit of crystals with high albedo as the ice sublimates. This could have resulted in a salt-albedo feedback that has not previously been included in modeling studies of Snowball Earth. We implement a salt-albedo feedback in a simple climate model and show that, once initiated, this mechanism could have intensified global cooling in the initial phase of Snowball Earth. Our results suggest that salt precipitation may have played a role in shaping the early climate of Snowball Earth.

### What they found (results)

A climate model shows that below roughly -36°C, salt precipitating from sublimating sea ice raises surface albedo to about 0.93, reinforcing further cooling and producing two distinct hysteresis states, with the colder salt-covered state implicated in the initial Snowball Earth transition.

## Commentary

### In short

A self-reinforcing causal feedback loop, once a temperature threshold is crossed, locks the climate system into one of two qualitatively distinct stable states.

**Patterns it shows** D, R

**Added** 2026-08-12

**How to cite this** Samuelsberg et al. (2026). Amplified cooling of Snowball Earth from a salt-albedo feedback. Climate of the Past.