Very high atmospheric CO2 levels can explain the high temperatures on the still young Earth three to four billion years ago. At the time, our Sun shone with only 70 […]
climate
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather
An Ancient Volcanic Eruption Destroyed Earth's Ozone Layer
A catastrophic drop in atmospheric ozone levels around the tropics is likely to have contributed to a bottleneck in the human population around 60 to 100,000 years ago, an international […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
The Influence Of Surface CO2 Condensation On The Evolution Of Warm And Cold Rocky Planets Orbiting Sun-like Stars
The habitable zone is the region around a star where standing bodies of liquid water can be stable on a planetary surface. Its width is often assumed to be dictated […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
The Role Of Planetary Interior In The Long-term Evolution Of Atmospheric CO2 On Earth-like Exoplanets
Context: The long-term carbonate-silicate cycle plays an important role in the evolution of Earth’s climate and, therefore, may also be an important mechanism in the evolution of the climates of […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Press Release
Reconstructing Global Climate Through Earth's History
A key component when forecasting what the Earth’s climate might look like in the future is the ability to draw on accurate temperature records of the past. By reconstructing past […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Press Release
Glaciological Window Into The Pace Of The Organic Carbon Cycle
Because the geological carbon cycle regulates long term atmospheric oxygen concentrations, fluctuations in atmospheric O2 are typically attributed to an imbalance between the weathering of organic carbon (OC) and reduced […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Solar-cycle Irradiance Variations Over The Last Four Billion years
The variability of the spectral solar irradiance (SSI) over the course of the 11-year solar cycle is one of the manifestations of solar magnetic activity. There is a strong evidence […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Press Release
Earth Climate Models And The Search For Life On Other Planets
In a generic brick building on the northwestern edge of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center campus in Greenbelt, Maryland, thousands of computers packed in racks the size of vending machines […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Solar System Processes Have Controlled The Carbon Cycle Throughout Earth's History
The world is waking up to the fact that human-driven carbon emissions are responsible for warming our climate, driving unprecedented changes to ecosystems, and placing us on course for the […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
The Precision of Mass Measurements Required for Robust Atmospheric Characterization of Transiting Exoplanets
Two of TESS’s major science goals are to measure masses for 50 planets smaller than 4 Earth radii and to discover high-quality targets for atmospheric characterization efforts. It is important […]