Vertical temperature profile and magma ocean depth are adiabatic-resolved (upper panels) and ocean circulation-resolved (lower panels), respectively. (a & c) Vertical temperature profile with subsurface temperature of 3000 K (red line) and liquidus curve (black line). (b & d) Magma ocean depth as a function of angle from the substellar point under the surface temperature shown in Fig. 2(b). The fluid in panel (c) increases with depth as in panel (a), but it is not evident at shallower depths. The vertical range is different between the top and bottom panels. – astro-ph.EP
If the surface temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the typical crust, a magma ocean is expected to exist during the daytime of tide-locked planets.
More information about the surface and atmosphere of volcanic planets will soon be available as high-priority targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In previous studies of volcanic planets, the system was generally assumed to be strongly convective and isentropic.
This indicates magma ocean depths reaching O(104–105) m as determined by adiabats and melting curves. In this study, we aim to simulate ocean circulation and ocean depth in locked lava worlds using an idealized 2D (xz) model developed by the authors.
Our simulation results show that under zero or small internal source, the maximum zonal current velocity ranges from 0.1–1.0 ms.−1 And the magma ocean depth is O(100) m, which is 100 times shallower than predicted in a fully convective system. We demonstrate that the oceanic heat transport difference is smaller than that of stellar insolation by 1–2 orders of magnitude.
Consequently, the influence of ocean circulation on the thermal phase curve of tidally locked volcanic worlds is limited in observations.
Yanhong Lai, Jun Yang, Waning Kong
Comments: 26 pages, 9 figures; Accepted for publication in the Planetary Science Journal (PSJ).
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Citation: arXiv:2408.09986 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2408.09986v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.09986
Pay attention to know more
Submission history
Posted by: Yanhong Lai
[v1] Mon, 19 Aug 2024 13:37:11 UTC (5,665 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.09986
astronomy, astronomy,
