Related papers: Habitable Climates: The Influence of Eccentricity
Terrestrial planets at the inner edge of the habitable zone of late-K and M-dwarf stars are expected to be in synchronous rotation, as a consequence of strong tidal interactions with their host stars. Previous global climate model (GCM)…
The habitable zone for exomoons with Earth-like properties is a non-trivial manifold, compared to that of Earth-like exoplanets. The presence of tidal heating, eclipses and planetary illumination in the exomoon energy budget combine to…
Terrestrial planets orbiting within the habitable zones of M-stars are likely to become tidally locked in a 1:1 spin:orbit configuration and are prime targets for future characterization efforts. An issue of importance for the potential…
The habitable zones of main sequence stars have traditionally been defined as the range of orbits that intercept the appropriate amount of stellar flux to permit surface water on a planet. Terrestrial exoplanets discovered to orbit M stars…
Several Earth system components are at a high risk of undergoing rapid and irreversible qualitative changes or `tipping', due to increasing climate warming. Potential tipping elements include Arctic sea-ice, Atlantic meridional overturning…
The proportions of oxygen, carbon and major rock-forming elements (e.g. Mg, Fe, Si) determine a planet's dominant mineralogy. Variation in a planet's mineralogy subsequently affects planetary mantle dynamics as well as any deep water or…
The planetary obliquity plays a significant role in determining physical properties of planetary surfaces and climate. As direct detection is constrained due to the present observation accuracy, kinetic theories are helpful to predict the…
A key factor in determining the potential habitability of synchronously rotating planets is the strength of the atmospheric boundary layer inversion between the dark side surface and the free atmosphere. Here we analyse data obtained from…
The present study aims at characterizing the habitability conditions of exoplanets with an Earth-like magnetosphere inside the habitable zone of M stars and F stars like tau Boo, caused by the direct deposition of the stellar wind on the…
We use the super Earth 55 Cnc e as a case study to address an observable effect of tidal heating. We investigate whether planet-planet interactions can force the eccentricity of this planet to a level affecting the eclipse depth observed…
This paper presents a version of the HEXTOR energy balance model that has been configured for the study of habitable terrestrial planets orbiting low-mass stars. The model is validated for rapidly-rotating Earth-like planets using…
Exoplanet discoveries over recent years have shown that terrestrial planets are exceptionally common. Many of these planets are in compact systems that result in complex orbital dynamics. A key step toward determining the surface conditions…
Planetary obliquity is a first order control on planetary climate and seasonal contrast, which has a number of cascading consequences for life. How moderately high obliquity (obliquities greater than Earth's current obliquity up to…
Carbonate-silicate weathering feedback is thought to stabilize Earth's climate on geologic timescales. If climate warms, faster mineral dissolution and increased rainfall speed up weathering, increasing CO2 drawdown and opposing the initial…
The aim of this study is to analyze the Earth habitability with respect to the direct exposition of the Earth atmosphere to the solar wind along the Suns evolution on the main sequence including the realistic evolution of the space weather…
Recent detections of potentially habitable exoplanets around sunlike stars demand increased exploration of the physical conditions that can sustain life, by whatever methods available. Insight into these conditions can be gained by…
Tidally locked worlds provide a unique opportunity for constraining the probable climates of certain exoplanets. They are unique in that few exoplanet spin and obliquity states are known or will be determined in the near future: both of…
Earth-scale planets in the classical habitable zone (HZ) are more likely to be habitable if they possess active geophysics. Without a constant internal energy source, planets cool as they age, eventually terminating tectonic activity and…
Using an intermediate complexity climate model (Planet Simulator), we investigate the so-called Snowball Earth transition. For certain values of the solar constant, the climate system allows two different stable states: one of them is the…
We revisit a recent claim that the Earth's climate system is characterized by sensitive dependence to parameters; in particular, that the system exhibits an asymmetric, large-amplitude response to normally distributed feedback forcing. Such…