Hydrohalite Salt-albedo Feedback Could Cool M-dwarf Planets

Abstract

A possible surface type that may form in the environments of M-dwarf planets is sodium chloride dihydrate, or "hydrohalite" (NaCl $\cdot$ 2H${}_2$O), 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 CO${}_2$ 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.

12 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

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Cited by in corpus (12)

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• Simulated Phase-dependent Spectra of Terrestrial Aquaplanets in M Dwarf Systems
• Albedos, Equilibrium Temperatures, and Surface Temperatures of Habitable Planets
• The Effect of Land Albedo on the Climate of Land-Dominated Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System
• How surfaces shape the climate of habitable exoplanets
• The Sparse Atmospheric MOdel Sampling Analysis (SAMOSA) intercomparison: Motivations and protocol version 1.0. A CUISINES model intercomparison project
• Energy Budgets for Terrestrial Extrasolar Planets
• High-resolution Spectra for a Wide Range of Habitable Zone Planets around Sun-like Stars
• A One-Dimensional Energy Balance Model Parameterization for the Formation of CO2 Ice on the Surfaces of Eccentric Extrasolar Planets
• Increased Surface Temperatures of Habitable White Dwarf Worlds Relative to Main-Sequence Exoplanets
• The Color of Habitability
• Climate uncertainties caused by unknown land distribution on habitable M-Earths