Halomonas are a hardy breed of bacteria. They can withstand heat, high salinity, low oxygen, utter darkness and pressures that would kill most other organisms. These traits enable these microbes […]
Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Posted inIcy Worlds, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Transient Water Vapor at Europa's South Pole
In November and December 2012 the Hubble Space Telescope maged Europa’s ultraviolet emissions in the search for vapor plume activity. We report statistically significant coincident surpluses of hydrogen Lyman-α and […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Geochemical and planetary dynamical views on the origin of Earth's atmosphere and oceans
Earth’s volatile elements (H, C, and N) are essential to maintaining habitable conditions for metazoans and simpler life forms. However, identifying the sources (comets, meteorites, and trapped nebular gas) that […]
Posted inImpact events, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Toxic Ocean Conditions During Major Extinction 93.9 Million Years Ago
Oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean rose dramatically about 600 million years ago, coinciding with the first proliferation of animal life. Since then, numerous short lived biotic events — typically […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Video: Cold Warriors: Diving for Science in Antarctica
Its a place few people have seen or even imagined, and distant from familiar, everyday surroundings. The weather can be as harsh as the terrain at times with winds and […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Life Support Systems, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Away Team Update: A Post-Mission Conversation With NASA NEEMO 15 Aquanaut Steve Squyres
Keith’s note: Last month I had the opportunity to interview Cornell University Professor Steve Squyres as he prepared for his role in NASA’s NEEMO 15 mission (see “Away Team Update: […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Evidence for Iron-Rich Ancient Ocean Changes View of Earth’s Early History
Over the last half-billion years, the ocean mostly has been full of oxygen and teeming with animal life. But earlier, before animals evolved, oxygen was harder to come by. Now […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Liquid Robotics Awarded Guinness World Record for PacX Journey Across the Pacific
Liquid Robotics(R), an ocean data services provider and developer of the Wave Glider(R), announced it has been officially awarded the Guinness World Record for the longest journey of an unmanned […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Brinicles or sea stalactites provide clues to origin of life
Life on Earth may have originated not in warm tropical seas, but with weird tubes of ice — sometimes called “sea stalactites” — that grow downward into cold seawater near […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
An Oxygen-poor ‘Boring’ Ocean Challenged Evolution of Early Life
A research team led by biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside has filled in a billion-year gap in our understanding of conditions in the early ocean during a critical […]