A cool runaway greenhouse without surface magma ocean

Franck Selsis (), Jérémy Leconte, Martin Turbet, Guillaume Chaverot and Émeline Bolmont
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Franck Selsis: University of Bordeaux, CNRS
Jérémy Leconte: University of Bordeaux, CNRS
Martin Turbet: University of Bordeaux, CNRS
Guillaume Chaverot: Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève
Émeline Bolmont: Observatoire Astronomique de l’Université de Genève

Nature, 2023, vol. 620, issue 7973, 287-291

Abstract: Abstract Water vapour atmospheres with content equivalent to the Earth’s oceans, resulting from impacts1 or a high insolation2,3, were found to yield a surface magma ocean4,5. This was, however, a consequence of assuming a fully convective structure2–11. Here, we report using a consistent climate model that pure steam atmospheres are commonly shaped by radiative layers, making their thermal structure strongly dependent on the stellar spectrum and internal heat flow. The surface is cooler when an adiabatic profile is not imposed; melting Earth’s crust requires an insolation several times higher than today, which will not happen during the main sequence of the Sun. Venus’s surface can solidify before the steam atmosphere escapes, which is the opposite of previous works4,5. Around the reddest stars (Teff

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06258-3

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