Snowball Earth
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
In Earth's history, there were extreme ice ages when the entire planet, including the equator, was covered in ice and snow. This is a "locked" state caused by a positive feedback loop of albedo (more ice, more reflected sunlight, colder).
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
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The extreme cold deadlock of a system. If a system falls into an extreme state of a vicious cycle, internal regulation may not be able to restore it; it must rely on external super-events (such as volcanic eruptions emitting large amounts of CO2) to break the freeze.
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More ice cover → higher albedo → less absorbed sunlight → colder → more ice, a positive feedback that locks the Earth into a fully glaciated deadlock, requiring an external super-event (volcanic CO2) to break it.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earthverified
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