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A simplified climate model and maximum entropy production

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Abstract

A simplified climate model based on maximum entropy production, described by a variational principle, is revisited and an analytical solution to its Euler–Lagrange equation is found. Mindful of controversy about maximum or minimum entropy production in open thermodynamical systems, we show that the solution extremizing the action integral corresponds to a maximum.

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Notes

  1. Friction, however, does not coincide with entropy production rate.

  2. The radiative budget is usually non-local, i.e., a functional of the vertical temperature profile, even in simple models when several layers of atmosphere are considered.

  3. In the end, Ref. [36] assumes \(I(\vartheta )= \beta - \alpha \sin ^2 \vartheta \), with \(\alpha \) and \(\beta \) constants.

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Acknowledgements

We thank a referee for suggestions leading to improvements in the manuscript. This work is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 2016-03803) and by Bishop’s University.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bishop’s University, 2600 College Street, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1M 1Z7, Canada

    Valerio Faraoni

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  1. Valerio Faraoni
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Faraoni, V. A simplified climate model and maximum entropy production. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 135, 868 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00879-7

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