Terraforming & Geoengineering Archives

Host microorganism carrying antimicrobial resistance and virulence-related genes in air samples under varying atmospheric conditions. The RPKM values of contigs associated with both taxonomy and antimicrobial resistance (A) and virulence-related traits (B) are annotated by numbers outside the circle. The sample name is displayed at the center of each chord diagram. For visual clarity, only three air samples representing clear (t13), dusty (t29), and high-temperature clear (t50) days are included. Inside the diagrams, colored sectors depict the top 20 species, top 10 antimicrobial resistance, and top 5 virulence-related traits with the highest RPKM values. The sum of the other taxa and functional features is depicted with a gray color code. The top 20 taxa are colored according to class and species level. Class level color codes (top section) are shown in the legend, while species level coloring (bottom section) represents dust-indicator taxa with a black color and the rest are colored randomly for each sample. The total log10(RPKM) values are presented as bar plots at the bottom of each chord diagram. -- biorxiv.org

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Dust storm-driven Dispersal of Potential Pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes In The Eastern Mediterranean

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2024July 7, 2024

The atmosphere hosts a microbiome that connects remote ecosystems but remains underexplored. In this study, we employed metagenomics to examine the ecological roles of the atmospheric microbiome, including the dispersal […]

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Cryobiology, Desert Worlds, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gravitational Biology, Life Support Systems, Mars, Plant Biology, Radiation, Space Agriculture, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

The Extremotolerant Desert Moss Syntrichia caninervis Is A Promising Pioneer Plant For Colonizing Extraterrestrial Environments

by Keith CowingJuly 2, 2024August 23, 2025

Many plans to establish human settlements on other planets focus on adapting crops to growth in controlled environments. However, these settlements will also require pioneer plants that can grow in […]

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, SETI & Technosignatures, Terraforming & Geoengineering, TRAPPIST-1

Telltale Greenhouse Gases Could Signal Alien Terraforming Activity

by Keith CowingJune 26, 2024June 26, 2024

If aliens modified a planet in their solar system to make it warmer, we’d be able to tell. A new UC Riverside study identifies the artificial greenhouse gases that would […]

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Policy, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Climate Change Task Force Report for the American Astronomical Society

by Keith CowingJune 18, 2024June 18, 2024

The AAS Strategic Plan for 2021-26 called for the creation of a task force to identify how the AAS can meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Preserving Our Home World’s Cryosphere: World Meteorological Organization

by Keith CowingJune 14, 2024June 14, 2024

Editor’s note: The Astrobiology community is all excited about two missions that wil; explore the ice worlds orbiting Jupiter with a focus of understanding their potential to host habitable – […]

Conceptual model of shallow cumulus cloud evolution during a solar eclipse The time progresses in the horizontal direction to the right. Background color shading indicates the virtual potential temperature of the atmosphere and land surface in our simulation. The red and blue arrows are the sensible and latent heat fluxes, respectively, which depend strongly on the temperature difference between the surface and the atmosphere just above the surface. The yellow arrows represent the amount of incoming solar radiation, which is largest around noon but is reduced during a solar eclipse as illustrated by the lunar disk covering the solar disk. When the growing atmospheric boundary layer height (dotted line) intersects with the lifting condensation level (dashed line), clouds are formed, but they are diminished when the updrafts are slowed down during a solar eclipse, as indicated by the smaller inclination of the black arrow. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Terraforming / Geoengineering: Clouds Dissipate Quickly During Solar Eclipses As The Land Surface Cools

by Keith CowingJune 1, 2024

Clouds affected by solar eclipses could influence the reflection of sunlight back into space and might change local precipitation patterns.

Garden cress (Lepidium sativum) grown on a sand substrate with one hundred initial seeds under solar (effective temperature 5800 K), K dwarf (effective temperature 4300 K) and dark conditions. Here the visual results for selected days are shown. Garden cress under K dwarf radiation sprouts sooner relative to solar and dark conditions. -- astro-ph.EP

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Life Support Systems, Microbiology & Virology, Plant Biology, Space Agriculture, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Observation of Significant Photosynthesis in Garden Cress and Cyanobacteria under Simulated Illumination from a K Dwarf Star

by Keith CowingMay 30, 2024

Stars with about 45 to 80% the mass of the Sun, so-called K dwarf stars, have previously been proposed as optimal host stars in the search for habitable extrasolar worlds.

Simulated oxygen (left; a,d,g), sulfate (middle; b,e,h), and methane (right; c,f,i) concentrations in a Proterozoic-like ocean with 10-3 PAL O2. Maps show each species in surface seawater (top; a-c) and benthic seawater (middle; d-f). Also shown are zonal average vertical profiles (bottom; g-i). Oxygen is limited to oxygen oases in surface seawater, leading to extensive SO4 2- reduction and local SO4 2- scarcity at depth, especially underlying productive regions of the surface ocean and in the oldest bottom waters. Where SO4 2- concentrations are low, methanogenesis leads to CH4 accumulation, but CH4 must evade oxidation by both SO4 2- in the ocean interior and O2 in surface waters before it may enter the atmosphere. This figure is reproduced from Reinhard et al. (2020) under Creative Commons Attribution License CCBY. Nitrous oxide (N2O -- astro-ph.EP

Analog Studies, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

The Early Earth As An Analogue For Exoplanetary Biogeochemistry

by Keith CowingApril 25, 2024April 25, 2024

Planet Earth has evolved from an entirely anoxic planet with possibly a different tectonic regime to the oxygenated world with horizontal plate tectonics that we know today.

Satellite data on chlorophyll concentrations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean uses warm colors to show areas of higher phytoplankton abundance. The small patch of bright red and yellow in the bottom center of the image indicates a bloom created by an iron fertilization experiment. CREDIT NASA Earth Observatory

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Terraforming And Planetary Engineering: Study Underscores Uncertain Costs Of Iron Fertilization

by Keith CowingApril 3, 2024

Editor’s note: It is a common thing to sit back and imagine what other worlds are like, if we can live there, and how we might need to modify the […]

This image was processed from archived Mariner 10 data by JPL engineer Kevin M. Gill.

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Venus

Venus As An Anchor Point for Planetary Habitability

by Keith CowingMarch 15, 2024March 15, 2024

A major focus of the planetary science and astrobiology community is the understanding of planetary habitability, including the myriad factors that control the evolution and sustainability of temperate surface environments […]

Terraforming & Geoengineering

Dust storm-driven Dispersal of Potential Pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance Genes In The Eastern Mediterranean

The Extremotolerant Desert Moss Syntrichia caninervis Is A Promising Pioneer Plant For Colonizing Extraterrestrial Environments

Telltale Greenhouse Gases Could Signal Alien Terraforming Activity

Climate Change Task Force Report for the American Astronomical Society

Preserving Our Home World’s Cryosphere: World Meteorological Organization

Terraforming / Geoengineering: Clouds Dissipate Quickly During Solar Eclipses As The Land Surface Cools

Observation of Significant Photosynthesis in Garden Cress and Cyanobacteria under Simulated Illumination from a K Dwarf Star

The Early Earth As An Analogue For Exoplanetary Biogeochemistry

Terraforming And Planetary Engineering: Study Underscores Uncertain Costs Of Iron Fertilization

Venus As An Anchor Point for Planetary Habitability

Well-Preserved Polygons In Elysium Planitia on Mars

Long-term Performance Of Thermoacidophilic Methanotrophic Biotrickling Filters

Diversity Of Planetary Origins And Compositions Traced By Stellar Abundance Differences Of Co-natal Star Systems

Coupled Evolution Of Earth’s H2-rich Proto-atmosphere And Oxidized Magma Ocean

Prebiotic Synthesis of L-Homochiral Peptides on Primordial Earth