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

TL;DR

This study combines new experimental measurements and semi-empirical modeling of collision-induced absorption (CIA) for CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 gases, applying the results to assess early Mars surface warming scenarios.

Contribution

It provides improved CIA data and climate modeling for early Mars, demonstrating the potential of H2-rich atmospheres to produce sufficient warming.

Findings

H2-rich atmospheres can warm early Mars above water melting point.

New measurements reduce uncertainties in CIA data.

Semi-empirical models enable broad spectral and temperature coverage.

Abstract

Reducing atmospheres have recently emerged as a promising scenario to warm the surface of early Mars enough to drive the formation of valley networks and other ancient aqueous features that have been detected so far on the surface of Mars. Here we present a series of experiments and calculations to better constrain CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 collision-induced absorptions (CIAs) as well as their effect on the prediction of early Mars surface temperature. First, we carried out a new set of experimental measurements (using the AILES line of the SOLEIL synchrotron) of both CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 CIAs. These measurements confirm the previous results of Turbet et al. 2019, Icarus vol. 321, while significantly reducing the experimental uncertainties. Secondly, we fitted a semi-empirical model to these CIAs measurements, allowing us to compute the CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 CIAs across a broad spectral domain (0-1500cm-1) and for a wide range of temperatures (100-600K). Last, we performed 1-D numerical radiative-convective climate calculations (using the LMD Generic Model) to compute the surface temperature expected on the surface of early Mars for several CO2, CH4 and H2 atmospheric contents, taking into account the radiative effect of these revised CIAs. These calculations demonstrate that thick CO2+H2-dominated atmospheres remain a viable solution for warming the surface of Mars above the melting point of water, but not CO2+CH4-dominated atmospheres. Our calculated CO2+CH4 and CO2+H2 CIA spectra and predicted early Mars surface temperatures are provided to the community for future uses.