Cyclic sedimentation has varied at several timescales and this variability has been geologically well documented at Milankovitch timescales, controlled in part by climatically (insolation) driven sea-level changes. At the longer […]
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Atmospheric Tides In Earth-like Planets
Atmospheric tides can strongly affect the rotational dynamics of planets. In the family of Earth-like planets, such as Venus, this physical mechanism coupled with solid tides makes the angular velocity […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Milankovitch Cycles of Terrestrial Planets in Binary Star Systems
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 […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Press Release
Early Earth's Air Weighed Less Than Half of Today's Atmosphere
The idea that the young Earth had a thicker atmosphere turns out to be wrong. New research from the University of Washington uses bubbles trapped in 2.7 billion-year-old rocks to […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Sample Return
Hydrothermal Systems Show Spectrum of Extreme Life on Earth
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Hydrothermal system at the Danakil Depression. The yellow deposits are a variety of sulphates and the […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
SET-E: The Search for Extraterrestrial Environmentalism
There is currently no evidence for life on any known exoplanet. Here, we propose a form of “galactic anthropology” to detect not only the existence of life on transiting exoplanets, […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Moon, Press Release
Phase of the Moon affects Amount of Rainfall
When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet’s atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Press Release
Snowball Earth Might Be Slushy
Imagine a world without liquid water just solid ice in all directions. It would certainly not be a place that most life forms would like to live. And yet our […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Carbon Dioxide in Exoplanetary Atmospheres: Rarely Dominant Compared to Carbon Monoxide and Water
We present a comprehensive study of the abundance of carbon dioxide in exoplanetary atmospheres. We construct analytical models of systems in chemical equilibrium that include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report
Variability in the Super-Earth 55 Cnc e
Considerable progress has been made in recent years in observations of atmospheric signatures of giant exoplanets, but processes in rocky exoplanets remain largely unknown due to major challenges in observing […]