Is ozone a reliable proxy for molecular oxygen? III. The impact of CH$_4$ on the O$_2$-O$_3$ relationship for Earth-like atmospheres

TL;DR

This study investigates how methane (CH₄) influences the ozone (O₃) and oxygen (O₂) relationship in Earth-like atmospheres, highlighting the complexities in using O₃ as a proxy for O₂ in exoplanet biosignature detection.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how methane levels affect the O₂-O₃ relationship across different stellar environments and atmospheric compositions.

Findings

High CH₄ levels alter O₃ formation and destruction rates.

Methane impacts stratospheric temperatures and UV shielding.

O₃ as a proxy for O₂ is complex and environment-dependent.

Abstract

In the search for life in the Universe, molecular oxygen (O$_2$) combined with a reducing species, such as methane (CH$_4$), is considered a promising disequilibrium biosignature. In cases where it would be difficult or impossible to detect O$_2$ (e.g., mid-IR or low O$_2$ levels), it has been suggested that ozone (O$_3$), the photochemical product of O$_2$, could be used as a proxy for determining the abundance of O$_2$. As the O$_2$-O$_3$ relationship is nonlinear, the goal of this series of papers is to explore how it would change for different host stars and atmospheric compositions and learning how to use O$_3$ to infer O$_2$. We used photochemistry and climate modeling to further explore the O$_2$-O$_3$ relationship by modeling Earth-like planets with the present atmospheric level (PAL) of O$_2$ between 0.01% to 150% along with high and low CH$_4$ abundances of 1000% and 10% PAL, respectively. Methane is of interest not only because it is a biosignature, but also the source of hydrogen atoms for hydrogen oxide (HO$_x$) which destroys O$_3$ through catalytic cycles and acts as a catalyst for the smog mechanism of O$_3$ formation in the lower atmosphere. We find varying CH$_4$ causes changes to the O$_2$-O$_3$ relationship in ways that are highly dependent on both host star and O$_2$ abundance. A striking result for high CH$_4$ models in high O$_2$ atmospheres around hotter hosts is that enough CH$_4$ is efficiently converted into H$_2$O to significantly impact stratospheric temperatures, and therefore the formation/destruction rates of O$_3$. Changes in HO$_x$ also influenced the HO$_x$ catalytic cycle and smog O$_3$, causing variations in harmful UV reaching the surface as well as changes in the 9.6~$\mu$m O$_3$ feature in emission spectra. This demonstrates the need to explore the O$_2$-O$_3$ relationship in order to use O$_3$ as a reliable proxy for O$_2$ in future observations.