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Joshi, Manoj M. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2948-2811 and Haberle, Robert M.
(2012)
Suppression of the water ice and snow albedo feedback on planets orbiting red dwarf stars and the aubsequent widening of the habitable zone.
Astrobiology, 12 (1).
pp. 3-8.
ISSN 1531-1074
Abstract
M stars comprise 80% of main sequence stars, so their planetary systems provide the best chance for finding habitable planets, that is, those with surface liquid water. We have modeled the broadband albedo or reflectivity of water ice and snow for simulated planetary surfaces orbiting two observed red dwarf stars (or M stars), using spectrally resolved data of Earth's cryosphere. The gradual reduction of the albedos of snow and ice at wavelengths greater than 1 µm, combined with M stars emitting a significant fraction of their radiation at these same longer wavelengths, means that the albedos of ice and snow on planets orbiting M stars are much lower than their values on Earth. Our results imply that the ice/snow albedo climate feedback is significantly weaker for planets orbiting M stars than for planets orbiting G-type stars such as the Sun. In addition, planets with significant ice and snow cover will have significantly higher surface temperatures for a given stellar flux if the spectral variation of cryospheric albedo is considered, which in turn implies that the outer edge of the habitable zone around M stars may be 10–30% farther away from the parent star than previously thought
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action |
| Faculty \ School: | University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climatic Research Unit Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research |
| Depositing User: | Rhiannon Harvey |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Feb 2012 10:44 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jun 2023 23:34 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/36695 |
| DOI: | 10.1089/ast.2011.0668 |
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