A 3D picture of moist-convection inhibition in hydrogen-rich atmospheres: Implications for K2-18 b

¹ Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, B18N, allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
e-mail: jeremy.leconte@u-bordeaux.fr
² Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (IPSL), Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Polytechnique, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
³ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
⁴ LATMOS/IPSL, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Paris, France

Received: 12 December 2023
Accepted: 9 January 2024

Abstract

While small Neptune-like planets are among the most abundant exoplanets, our understanding of their atmospheric structure and dynamics remains sparse. In particular, many unknowns remain regarding the way moist convection works in these atmospheres, where condensable species are heavier than the non-condensable background gas. While it has been predicted that moist convection could cease above some threshold abundance of these condensable species, this prediction is based on simple linear analysis and relies on some strong assumptions regarding the saturation of the atmosphere. To investigate this issue, we developed a 3D cloud-resolving model for hydrogen-dominated atmospheres with large amounts of condensable species and applied it to a prototypical temperate Neptune-like planet – K2-18 b. Our model confirms the inhibition of moist convection above a critical abundance of condensable vapor and the onset of a stably stratified layer in the atmosphere of such planets, which leads to much hotter deep atmospheres and interiors. Our 3D simulations further provide quantitative estimates of the turbulent mixing in this stable layer, which is a key driver of the cycling of condensables in the atmosphere. This allowed us to build a very simple, yet realistic, 1D model that captures the most salient features of the structure of Neptune-like atmospheres. Our qualitative findings on the behavior of moist convection in hydrogen atmospheres go beyond temperate planets and should also apply to regions where iron and silicates condense in the deep interior of hydrogen-dominated planets. Finally, we used our model to investigate the likelihood of a liquid ocean beneath an H₂-dominated atmosphere on K2-18 b. We find that the planet would need to have a very high albedo (A > 0.5–0.6) to sustain a liquid ocean. However, due to the spectral type of the star, the amount of aerosol scattering that would be needed to provide such a high albedo is inconsistent with the latest observational data.