Exoplanetology: Exoplanets & Exomoons

A Proposal for Climate Stability on H2-greenhouse Planets

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
astro-ph.EP
November 25, 2015
Filed under
A Proposal for Climate Stability on H2-greenhouse Planets

A terrestrial planet in an orbit far outside of the standard habitable zone could maintain surface liquid water as a result of H2-H2 collision-induced absorption by a thick H2 atmosphere.

Without a stabilizing climate feedback, however, habitability would be accidental and likely brief.

In this letter I propose stabilizing climate feedbacks for such a planet that require only that biological functions have an optimal temperature and operate less efficiently at other temperatures. For example, on a planet with a net source of H2 from its interior, H2-consuming life (such as methanogens) could establish a stable climate. If a positive perturbation is added to the equilibrium temperature, H2 consumption by life will increase (cooling the planet) until the equilibrium climate is reestablished. The potential existence of such feedbacks makes H2-warmed planets more attractive astrobiological targets.

Dorian S. Abbot
(Submitted on 24 Nov 2015)

Comments: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted at ApJL
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:1511.07831 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1511.07831v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Dorian Abbot
[v1] Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:06:39 GMT (47kb,D)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.07831

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻