Stochastic energy-balance model with a moving ice line

Abstract: In [SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Sys., 12(4):2068--2092, 2013], Widiasih proposed and analyzed a deterministic one-dimensional Budyko-Sellers energy-balance model with a moving ice-line. In this paper, we extend this model to the stochastic setting and analyze it within the framework of stochastic slow-fast systems. We derive the dynamics for the ice line in the limit of a small parameter as a solution to a stochastic differential equation. The stochastic approach enables the study of co-existing (metastable) climate states as well as the transition dynamics between them.