Oral Presentation

Climate patterns of habitable exoplanets in eccentric orbits around M dwarfs

Yuwei Wang (Peking University), Feng Tian (Tsinghua University), Yongyun Hu (Peking University)

Previous studies show that synchronous rotating habitable exoplanets around M dwarfs should have an "eyeball" climate pattern -- a limited region of open water on the dayside and ice on the rest of the planet. However, exoplanets with non-zero eccentricities could have spin-orbit resonance states different than the synchronous rotation state. Here, we show that a striped-ball climate pattern, with a global belt of open water at low and middle latitudes and ice over both polar regions, should be common on habitable exoplanets on eccentric orbits around M dwarfs. We further show that these different climate patterns can be observed by future exoplanet detection missions.