Simulations of the Evolving Ozone Layer: Implications for the Early Earth, Exoplanets, and the Search For Life

Abstract

Over 4 billion years, Earth's atmosphere has been transformed from a composition devoid of molecular oxygen (O$_2$) to one where O$_2$ is now 21% of our modern atmosphere by volume. With high quantities of O$_2$, an ozone (O$_3$) layer can form and partially shield the surface from biologically harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV). The evolution of the O$_3$ layer has previously been simulated under the modern Sun by independent groups with separate models. Here, we present simulations of Earth's atmosphere from four open-source one-dimensional (1D) photochemical models and a 3D chemistry-climate model, focussing on O$_3$. We find that the O$_3$ layer thickness exhibits a clear deviation between the 1D models and the 3D model due to several factors, including treatments of O$_2$ photolysis, chemical networks, H$_2$O microphysics and 3D transport. We find that 1D models introduce a bias for unobserved climate states and show how these biases may propagate to calculations of biological UV damage and surface habitability. We show that when applied to specific exoplanet atmospheres, these discrepancies can become more pronounced, propagating through to observational predictions for the next generation of telescopes, such as HWO and LIFE, that will search for habitable and inhabited exoplanets.