Milankovitch Cycles of Terrestrial Planets in Binary Star Systems

Milankovitch Cycles of Terrestrial Planets in Binary Star Systems

Author:

Forgan

Abstract:

The habitability of planets in binary star systems depends not only on the radiation environment created by the two stars, but also on the perturbations to planetary orbits and rotation produced by the gravitational field of the binary and neighbouring planets. Habitable planets in binaries may therefore experience significant perturbations in orbit and spin. The direct effects of orbital resonances and secular evolution on the climate of binary planets remain largely unconsidered. We present latitudinal energy balance modelling of exoplanet climates with direct coupling to an N Body integrator and an obliquity evolution model. This allows us to simultaneously investigate the thermal and dynamical evolution of planets orbiting binary stars, and discover gravito-climatic oscillations on dynamical and secular timescales. We investigate the Kepler-47 and Alpha Centauri systems as archetypes of P and S type binary systems respectively. In the first case, Earthlike planets would experience rapid Milankovitch cycles (of order 1000 years) in eccentricity, obliquity and precession, inducing temperature oscillations of similar periods (modulated by other planets in the system). These secular temperature variations have amplitudes similar to those induced on the much shorter timescale of the binary period. In the Alpha Centauri system, the influence of the secondary produces eccentricity variations on 15,000 year timescales. This produces climate oscillations of similar strength to the variation on the orbital timescale of the binary. Phase drifts between eccentricity and obliquity oscillations creates further cycles that are of order 100,000 years in duration, which are further modulated by neighbouring planets.

The Jupiter's Driving Role in Earth's Orbital Evolution

The role of Jupiter in driving Earth's orbital evolution: an update

Authors:

Horner et al

Abstract:

In the coming decades, the discovery of the first truly Earth-like exoplanets is anticipated. The characterisation of those planets will play a vital role in determining which are chosen as targets for the search for life beyond the Solar system. One of the many variables that will be considered in that characterisation and selection process is the nature of the potential climatic variability of the exoEarths in question.

In our own Solar system, the Earth's long-term climate is driven by several factors - including the modifying influence of life on our atmosphere, and the temporal evolution of Solar luminosity. The gravitational influence of the other planets in our Solar system add an extra complication - driving the Milankovitch cycles that are thought to have caused the on-going series of glacial and interglacial periods that have dominated Earth's climate for the past few million years.

Here, we present the results of a large suite of dynamical simulations that investigate the influence of the giant planet Jupiter on the Earth's Milankovitch cycles. If Jupiter was located on a different orbit, we find that the long-term variability of Earth's orbit would be significantly different. Our results illustrate how small differences in the architecture of planetary systems can result in marked changes in the potential habitability of the planets therein, and are an important first step in developing a means to characterise the nature of climate variability on planets beyond our Solar system.

Parameter Point for Exoplanetary Ice Ages: Obliquity Dominated Earth's Pleistocene Glacial Cycles

Obliquity and precession as pacemakers of Pleistocene deglaciations

Authors:

Feng et al

Abstract:

The Milankovitch theory states that the orbital eccentricity, precession, and obliquity of the Earth influence our climate by modulating the summer insolation at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Despite considerable success of this theory in explaining climate change over the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 to 0.01 Myr ago), it is inconclusive with regard to which combination of orbital elements paced the 100 kyr glacial-interglacial cycles over the late Pleistocene. Here we explore the role of the orbital elements in pacing the Pleistocene deglaciations by modeling ice-volume variations in a Bayesian approach. When comparing models, this approach takes into account the uncertainties in the data as well as the different degrees of model complexity. We find that the Earth's obliquity (axial tilt) plays a dominant role in pacing the glacial cycles over the whole Pleistocene, while precession only becomes important in pacing major deglaciations after the transition of the dominant period from 41 kyr to 100 kyr (the mid-Pleistocene transition). We also find that geomagnetic field and orbital inclination variations are unlikely to have paced the Pleistocene deglaciations. We estimate that the mid-Pleistocene transition took place over a 220 kyr interval centered on a time 715 kyr ago, although the data permit a range of 600--1000 kyr. This transition, occurring within just two 100\,kyr cycles, indicates a relatively rapid change in the climate response to insolation.