Transient reducing greenhouse warming on early Mars

Abstract

The evidence for abundant liquid water on early Mars despite the faint young Sun is a long-standing problem in planetary research. Here we present new ab initio spectroscopic and line-by-line climate calculations of the warming potential of reduced atmospheres on early Mars. We show that the strength of both CO2-H2 and CO2-CH4 collision-induced absorption (CIA) has previously been significantly underestimated. Contrary to previous expectations, methane could have acted as a powerful greenhouse gas on early Mars due to CO2-CH4 CIA in the critical 250-500 cm^-1 spectral window region. In atmospheres of 0.5 bar CO2 or more, percent levels of H2 or CH4 raise annual mean surface temperatures by tens of degrees, with temperatures reaching 273 K for pressures of 1.25-2~bar and 2-10% of H2 and CH4. Methane and hydrogen produced following aqueous alteration of Mars' crust could have combined with volcanically outgassed CO2 to form transient atmospheres of this composition 4.5-3.5 Ga. Our results also suggest that inhabited exoplanets could retain surface liquid water at significant distances from their host stars.

published in GRL Jan 2017, this is final preprint version

References in corpus (10)

• The Climate of Early Mars
• Global modelling of the early Martian climate under a denser CO2 atmosphere: Water cycle and ice evolution
• 3D modelling of the early Martian Climate under a denser CO2 atmosphere: Temperatures and CO2 ice clouds
• Warming early Mars with CO2 and H2
• Hydrogen Greenhouse Planets Beyond the Habitable Zone
• Water loss from terrestrial planets with CO2-rich atmospheres
• Predictions of the atmospheric composition of GJ 1132b
• Tracing the fate of carbon and the atmospheric evolution of Mars
• Seasonal melting and the formation of sedimentary rocks on Mars, with predictions for the Gale Crater mound
• Testing the Early Mars H2-CO2 Greenhouse Hypothesis with a 1-D Photochemical Model

Cited by in corpus (68)

• A seven-planet resonant chain in TRAPPIST-1
• Impact of Space Weather on Climate and Habitability of Terrestrial Type Exoplanets
• How to Characterize Habitable Worlds and Signs of Life
• The geological and climatological case for a warmer and wetter early Mars
• When did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA-First Process?
• Venusian Habitable Climate Scenarios: Modeling Venus through time and applications to slowly rotating Venus-Like Exoplanets
• A coupled model of episodic warming, oxidation and geochemical transitions on early Mars
• The Surface UV Environment on Planets Orbiting M-Dwarfs: Implications for Prebiotic Chemistry & Need for Experimental Follow-Up
• A Volcanic Hydrogen Habitable Zone
• Paleo-Rock-Hosted Life on Earth and the Search on Mars: a Review and Strategy for Exploration
• Redox evolution via gravitational differentiation on low mass planets: implications for abiotic oxygen, water loss and habitability
• Atmospheres of Rocky Exoplanets
• Vertically resolved magma ocean-protoatmosphere evolution: H${}_2$, H${}_2$O, CO${}_2$, CH${}_4$, CO, O${}_2$, and N${}_2$ as primary absorbers
• A review of possible planetary atmospheres in the TRAPPIST-1 system
• A more comprehensive habitable zone for finding life on other planets
• A warmer and wetter solution for early Mars and the challenges with transient warming
• A warm or a cold early Earth? New insights from a 3-D climate-carbon model
• Climate simulations of early Mars with estimated precipitation, runoff, and erosion rates
• Methane bursts as a trigger for intermittent lake-forming climates on post-Noachian Mars
• Measurements and semi-empirical calculations of CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 collision-induced absorption across a wide range of wavelengths and temperatures. Application for the prediction of early Mars surface temperature
• A Methane Extension to the Classical Habitable Zone
• Carbonate-Silicate Cycle Predictions of Earth-like Planetary Climates and Testing the Habitable Zone Concept
• Magma oceans as a critical stage in the tectonic development of rocky planets
• Far infrared measurements of absorptions by CH4+CO2 and H2+CO2 mixtures and implications for greenhouse warming on early Mars
• The environmental effects of very large bolide impacts on early Mars explored with a hierarchy of numerical models
• Can Volcanism Build Hydrogen-Rich Early Atmospheres?
• The Climates of Other Worlds: A Review of the Emerging Field of Exoplanet Climatology
• Consistently Simulating a Wide Range of Atmospheric Scenarios for K2-18b with a Flexible Radiative Transfer Module
• The habitability of stagnant-lid Earths around dwarf stars
• Circumpolar ocean stability on Mars 3 Gy ago
• A nitrogen-rich atmosphere on ancient Mars consistent with isotopic evolution models
• Near-infrared transmission spectrum of TRAPPIST-1 h using Hubble WFC3 G141 observations
• The paradoxes of the Late Hesperian Mars ocean
• Early Mars' habitability and global cooling by H2-based methanogens
• Linearized Flux Evolution (LiFE): A Technique for Rapidly Adapting Fluxes from Full-Physics Radiative Transfer Models
• Warming Early Mars with Climate Cycling: The Effect of CO2-H2 Collision-induced Absorption
• Data availability and requirements relevant for the Ariel space mission and other exoplanet atmosphere applications
• Changing spatial distribution of water flow charts major change in Mars' greenhouse effect
• Episodic deluges in simulated hothouse climates
• Photochemical Runaway in Exoplanet Atmospheres: Implications for Biosignatures
• Subsistence of ice-covered lakes during the Hesperian at Gale crater, Mars
• Atmospheric Constraints on the Surface UV Environment of Mars at 3.9 Ga Relevant to Prebiotic Chemistry
• A primordial atmospheric origin of hydrospheric deuterium enrichment on Mars
• The effect of varying atmospheric pressure upon habitability and biosignatures of Earth-like planets
• Anatomy of rocky planets formed by rapid pebble accretion III. Partitioning of volatiles between planetary core, mantle, and atmosphere
• Effect of Mars Atmospheric Loss on Snow Melt Potential in a 3.5-Gyr Mars Climate Evolution Model
• A New Line-By-Line General Circulation Model for Simulations of Diverse Planetary Atmospheres: Initial Validation and Application to the Exoplanet GJ 1132b
• Atmospheric Evolution on Low-gravity Waterworlds
• Hydrologic Cycle Weakening in Hothouse Climates
• Modelling the 3D Climate of Venus with OASIS
• The Cosmic Shoreline Revisited: A Metric for Atmospheric Retention Informed by Hydrodynamic Escape
• H${}_2$O${}_2$-induced Greenhouse Warming on Oxidized Early Mars
• Relative abundances of CO2, CO, and CH4 in atmospheres of Earth-like lifeless planets
• Mars' atmospheric neon suggests volatile-rich primitive mantle
• Inverted Channel Belts and Floodplain Clays to the East of Tempe Terra, Mars: Implications for Persistent Fluvial Activity on Early Mars
• The influence of surface $C{O}_2$ condensation on the evolution of warm and cold rocky planets orbiting Sun-like stars
• Tracing the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone with Sulfur Chemistry
• CO${}_2$ collision-induced line parameters for the ${\nu }_3$ band of ${}^{12}$CH${}_4$ measured using a hard-collision speed-dependent line shape and the relaxation matrix formalism
• A Simple Model for Radiative and Convective Fluxes in Planetary Atmospheres
• The Habitability of GJ 357 d : Possible Climates and Observability
• Planetary albedo is limited by the above-cloud atmosphere: Implications for sub-Neptune climate
• Greenhouse warming potential of a suite of gas species on early Mars evaluated using a radiative-convective climate model
• Evolution and Observable Properties of Rocky Planet Atmospheres
• Limit cycles and the climate history of Mars
• Climates of temperate rocky planets with He-dominated atmospheres
• Geologic Constraints on Early Mars Climate
• Novel Chemical Pathways for the Formation of Nucleobase Precursors via Benzene π-Bond Addition to HCN
• Behaviors of Martian CO2-driven dry climate system and conditions for atmospheric collapses