Modeling the albedo of Earth-like magma ocean planets with H2O-CO2 atmospheres

TL;DR

This study models the Bond albedo of Earth-like magma ocean planets with H2O-CO2 atmospheres using an advanced radiative-convective model, revealing how atmospheric composition and surface temperature influence planetary reflectivity and cooling.

Contribution

It introduces a new module for Rayleigh scattering and updated gaseous opacities, providing an empirical formula for Bond albedo applicable to magma ocean planets.

Findings

Bond albedo depends on surface temperature and cloud thickness.

Higher CO2 dominance increases Bond albedo due to stronger Rayleigh scattering.

The model offers a practical empirical formula for future planetary studies.

Abstract

During accretion, the young rocky planets are so hot that they become endowed with a magma ocean. From that moment, the mantle convective thermal flux control the cooling of the planet and an atmosphere is created by outgassing. This atmosphere will then play a key role during this cooling phase. Studying this cooling phase in details is a necessary step to explain the great diversity of the observed telluric planets and especially to assess the presence of surface liquid water. We used here a radiative-convective 1D atmospheric model (H2O, CO2) to study the impact of the Bond albedo on the evolution of magma ocean planets. We derived from this model the thermal emission spectrum and the spectral reflectance of these planets, from which we calculated their Bond albedos. Compared to Marcq et al. (2017), the model now includes a new module to compute the Rayleigh scattering, and state of the art CO2 and H2O gaseous opacities data in the visible and infrared spectral ranges. We show that the Bond albedo of these planets depends on their surface temperature and results from a competition between Rayleigh scattering from the gases and Mie scattering from the clouds. The colder the surface temperature is, the thicker the clouds are, and the higher the Bond albedo is. We also evidence that the relative abundances of CO2 and H2O in the atmosphere strongly impact the Bond albedo. The Bond albedo is higher for atmospheres dominated by the CO2, better Rayleigh scatterer than H2O. Finally, we provide the community with an empirical formula for the Bond albedo that could be useful for future studies of magma ocean planets.