Effects of obliquity and water vapor/trace gas greenhouses in the early martian climate
Abstract
We explore possible mechanisms for the generation of warm, wet climates on early Mars as a result of greenhouse warming by both water vapor and periodic volcanic trace emissions. The presence of both water vapor (a strong greenhouse gas) and other trace greenhouse gases (such as SO 2) in a predominantly CO 2 atmosphere may act, under certain conditions, to elevate surface temperatures above the freezing point of liquid water, at least episodically. Variations in obliquity are explored to investigate whether these periodic variations in insolation at Mars can broaden the regions or seasons where warm temperatures can exist. We use the Mars Weather Research and Forecasting general circulation model to perform several simulations of the conditions of the early martian atmosphere containing these gases and find global temperatures to be cooler than the elevated levels suggested by at least one recent study by Johnson et al. (2008). While achieving temperatures above 273 K globally remains challenging, the additional warming by greenhouse gases under certain obliquity states can permit for widespread seasonally warm conditions, which can help to explain the presence of fluvial surface features (e.g., valley networks) and hydrous minerals of post‐Noachian age, a period when alternate methods do not convincingly explain the sustainability of liquid water. Furthermore, we find that global warming can be achieved with the presence of a darker surface globally, which is consistent with both widespread exposure of unweathered basaltic bedrock or the presence of a large surface ocean or sea.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Recent 3D GCM studies find that in concentrations of under 10 ppm, SO2 warming cannot cause significant melting events on early Mars.
“In contrast to their result, recent 3D GCM studies find that in concentrations of under 10 ppm, SO 2 warming cannot cause significant melting events on early Mars (Mischna et al. 2013; Kerber, Forget & Wordsworth 2015).”
From The Climate of Early Mars (2016) · cites this paper as Mischna et al. 2013
Johnson et al. (2008) used correlated-k coefficients that were later found to be in error.
“While pioneering in terms of its technical approach, this work used correlatedk coefficients that were later found to be in error (Mischna et al. 2013).”
From The Climate of Early Mars (2016) · cites this paper as Mischna et al. 2013
Cites
A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 2
Skamarock, W., Klemp, J., Dudhia, J., Gill, D., Barker, D., & Wang, W. (2005) · NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research · doi:10.5065/d6dz069t · Cited by 2,504 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…the Mars Weather Research and Forecasting (MarsWRF) GCM. MarsWRF is a global model derived from the terrestrial mesoscale WRF model [Michalakes et al., 2004; Skamarock et al., 2005; Skamarock and Klemp, 2008] and is a Mars-specific implementation of the PlanetWRF GCM [Richardson et al., 2007].”
MethodDetection of perchlorate and the soluble chemistry of martian soil at the phoenix lander site
Hecht, M. H., Kounaves, S. P., Quinn, R. C., West, S. J., Young, S. M. M., Ming, D. W., Catling, D. C., Clark, B. C., Boynton, W. V., Hoffman, J., et al. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1172466 · Cited by 1,166 · see citing works
Lacis, A. A., & Oinas, V. (1991) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/90jd01945 · Cited by 1,051 · see citing works
Ancient oceans, ice sheets and the hydrological cycle on Mars
Baker, V. R., Strom, R. G., Gulick, V. C., Kargel, J. S., Komatsu, G., & Kale, V. S. (1991) · Nature · doi:10.1038/352589a0 · Cited by 714 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…presence of post-Noachian fluvial erosion in the highland valleys [Baker and Partridge, 1986; Bradley et al., 2002], valley networks on Alba Patera [Baker et al., 1991] and adjacent to Valles Marineris [Mangold et al., 2004], young fluvial formations in Medusa Fossae [Bradley et al., 2002] and…”
BackgroundSelf-citationCarr, M. H. (1996) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195099386.001.0001 · Cited by 551 · see citing works
Ancient ocean on Mars supported by global distribution of deltas and valleys
Di Achille, G., & Hynek, B. M. (2010) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo891 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
CO2 condensation and the climate of early Mars
Kasting, J. F. (1991) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/0019-1035(91)90137-i · Cited by 413 · see citing works
The Early Faint Sun Paradox: Organic Shielding of Ultraviolet-Labile Greenhouse Gases
Sagan, C., & Chyba, C. (1997) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.276.5316.1217 · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Formation timescales of large Martian valley networks
Hoke, M. R. T., Hynek, B. M., & Tucker, G. E. (2011) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.09.053 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Stability of ammonia in the primitive terrestrial atmosphere
Kasting, J. F. (1982) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans · doi:10.1029/jc087ic04p03091 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Photochemical and climate consequences of sulfur outgassing on early Mars
Tian, F., Claire, M. W., Haqq-Misra, J. D., Smith, M., Crisp, D. C., Catling, D., Zahnle, K., & Kasting, J. F. (2010) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.04.016 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Sackmann, I. ‐., & Boothroyd, A. I. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/345408 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Le Deit, L., Flahaut, J., Quantin, C., Hauber, E., Mège, D., Bourgeois, O., Gurgurewicz, J., Massé, M., & Jaumann, R. (2012) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1029/2011je003983 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Wordsworth, R. D. (2016) · Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences · doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-060115-012355 · Cited by 416 · see citing works
“In contrast to their result, recent 3D GCM studies find that in concentrations of under 10 ppm, SO2 warming cannot cause significant melting events on early Mars (Mischna et al. 2013; Kerber, Forget & Wordsworth 2015).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialWarming early Mars with CO2 and H2
Ramirez, R. M., Kopparapu, R., Zugger, M. E., Robinson, T. D., Freedman, R., & Kasting, J. F. (2014) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo2000 · Cited by 303 · see citing works
- Authors
- Mischna, M. A., Baker, V., Milliken, R., Richardson, M., & Lee, C.
- Affiliations
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Ashima Group (United States) (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2013-03
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 560-576
- ISSN
- 2169-9097 (ISSN-L)
- 2169-9100
- OpenAlex
- W1561582442
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Geophysical Research Planets (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Keywords
- early Mars climate, obliquity variations, global warming, water vapor, sulfur dioxide, CO2 atmosphere, surface temperature, solar irradiation, valley networks, hydrous minerals, surface albedo, Mars general circulation model, liquid water
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
