Astrochemistry

Hydrohalite Salt-albedo Feedback Could Cool M-dwarf Planets

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
astro-ph.EP
August 30, 2018
Filed under
Hydrohalite Salt-albedo Feedback Could Cool M-dwarf Planets
Hydrohalite
University of Washington

A possible surface type that may form in the environments of M-dwarf planets is sodium chloride dihydrate, or “hydrohalite” (NaCl 2H2O), which can precipitate in bare sea ice at low temperatures.

Unlike salt-free water ice, hydrohalite is highly reflective in the near-infrared, where M-dwarf stars emit strongly, making the effect of the interaction between hydrohalite and the M-dwarf SED necessary to quantify. We carried out the first exploration of the climatic effect of hydrohalite-induced salt-albedo feedback on extrasolar planets, using a three-dimensional global climate model. Under fixed CO$_2$ conditions, rapidly-rotating habitable-zone M-dwarf planets receiving 65% or less of the modern solar constant from their host stars exhibit cooler temperatures when an albedo parameterization for hydrohalite is included in climate simulations, compared to simulations without such a parameterization.

Differences in global mean surface temperature with and without this parameterization increase as the instellation is lowered, which may increase CO2 build-up requirements for habitable conditions on planets with active carbon cycles. Synchronously-rotating habitable-zone M-dwarf planets appear susceptible to salt-albedo feedback at higher levels of instellation (90% or less of the modern solar constant) than planets with Earth-like rotation periods, due to their cooler minimum day-side temperatures. These instellation levels where hydrohalite seems most relevant correspond to several recently-discovered potentially habitable M-dwarf planets, including Proxima Centauri b, TRAPPIST-1e, and LHS 1140b, making an albedo parameterization for hydrohalite of immediate importance in future climate simulations.

Aomawa L. Shields, Regina C. Carns
(Submitted on 29 Aug 2018)

Comments: 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:1808.09977 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1808.09977v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Aomawa Shields [view email]
[v1] Wed, 29 Aug 2018 18:00:06 GMT (360kb,D)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.09977
Astrobiology

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