Transient reducing greenhouse warming on early Mars

TL;DR

This study uses advanced climate modeling to show that reduced atmospheres with methane and hydrogen could have caused transient warming on early Mars, explaining liquid water presence despite the faint young Sun.

Contribution

It reveals that CO2-CH4 and CO2-H2 collision-induced absorption significantly enhanced greenhouse warming, challenging previous underestimations and suggesting transient habitable conditions on early Mars.

Findings

Methane and hydrogen could raise surface temperatures by tens of degrees.

Temperatures reaching 273 K are possible with 1.25-2 bar CO2 and 2-10% CH4 or H2.

Reduced atmospheres may have persisted 4.5-3.5 billion years ago.

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.