Climatic Effects of Ocean Salinity on M Dwarf Exoplanets

TL;DR

This study uses climate modeling to explore how varying ocean salinity affects the climate and ice coverage of Earth-like exoplanets orbiting G-type and M-dwarf stars, revealing different climate responses based on stellar type.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of ocean salinity effects on planetary climate around different star types using advanced climate simulations.

Findings

Increasing salinity causes non-linear ice reduction on G-star planets.

M-dwarf planets show gradual, linear ice response to salinity changes.

High salinity enhances M-dwarf planets' resilience against snowball states.

Abstract

Ocean salinity is known to dramatically affect the climates of Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars, with high salinity leading to less ice and higher surface temperature. However, how ocean composition impacts climate under different conditions, such as around different types of stars or at different positions within the habitable zone, has not been investigated. We used ROCKE-3D, an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model, to simulate how planetary climate responds to ocean salinities for planets with G-star vs. M-dwarf hosts at several stellar fluxes. We find that increasing ocean salinity from 20 to 100 g/kg in our model results in non-linear ice reduction and warming on G-star planets, sometimes causing abrupt transitions to different climate states. Conversely, sea ice on M-dwarf planets responds more gradually and linearly to increasing salinity. Moreover, reductions in sea ice on M-dwarf planets are not accompanied by significant surface warming as on G-star planets. High salinity can modestly bolster the resilience of M-dwarf planets against snowball glaciation and allow these planets to retain surface liquid water further from their host star, but the effects are muted compared to G-star planets that experience snowball bifurcation and climate hysteresis due to the ice-albedo feedback.