Ocean world Archives

The deep-blue sea is turning a touch greener.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Global Biosignatures: Climate Change Lends New Color To Earth’s Ocean

by Keith CowingOctober 14, 2023October 14, 2023

Editor’s note: something to keep in mind as we move towards direct observation of the surfaces and atmospheres of exoplanets. ______

Event data for E. coli ribosome in 2M LiCl. Panel A shows heat map of change in conductance vs. dwell time (time molecule spends disrupting nanopore’s ionic current). Heat map color scale corresponds to a probability of an event being in that region of the heat map. Panel B shows example events interpreted to be an intact ribosome (corresponding to Panel C) and a ribosomal fragment (corresponding to Panel D). Panels C and D show overlaid events within the red boxes C and D on Panel A, plotting all events with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 10, with time scaled to 1. Event data around a current baseline of 0 pA can be observed in C and D throughout the middle of the scaled events (e.g. events with a current signal close to the baseline along time axis points of 0.4 - 0.6). This is due to instances of the automatic event extraction selecting an event with 2 translocations (due to the translocations happening close to each other temporally). -- biorxiv.org

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Tricorder Tech: Translation As A Biosignature

by Keith CowingAugust 18, 2023August 18, 2023

Life on Earth relies on mechanisms to store heritable information and translate this information into cellular machinery required for biological activity. In all known life, storage, regulation, and translation are […]

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Reinforcement Learning Allows Underwater Robots To Locate And Track Objects Underwater

by Keith CowingJuly 29, 2023July 29, 2023

Editor’s note: When we send robotic submersibles and rovers to other worlds to search for life in remote and hostile environments, we’re going to our droids to be as smart […]

Solutions for the various heating scenarios with 𝑎 = 250 km. The top three rows show zonally-averaged temperature 𝑇, zonal flow speed 𝑈, meridional streamfunction Ψ(𝜙, 𝑧) = ∫ 𝑧 −𝐻tot 𝜌(𝜙, 𝑧′ )𝑉 (𝜙, 𝑧′ ) × (2𝜋(𝑎 + 𝑧 ′ ) cos 𝜙) 𝑑𝑧′ , where 𝜙 denotes latitude, 𝑧 denotes altitude, −𝐻tot is the altitude of the seafloor and 𝑉 and 𝜌 are meridional speed and density. Ψ > 0 indicates clockwise circulation. The last row (panel d1-4) shows the vertically-integrated meridional ocean heat transport F (𝜙) = ∫ −𝐻 −𝐻tot 𝜌(𝜙, 𝑧′ )𝑉 (𝜙, 𝑧′ )𝑇 (𝜙, 𝑧′ ) × (2𝜋(𝑎 + 𝑧 ′ ) cos 𝜙) 𝑑𝑧′ . F > 0 if heat is transport northward. From the left to the right column show solutions with 𝑄0 = 0, 𝑄0 = Hcond 𝑓deep ≈ 𝑄𝑐/3, 𝑄0 = 𝑄𝑐 and 𝑄0 = 5𝑄𝑐, respectively, where 𝑄𝑐 = 0.21 W/m2 . Panel (e2) shows the mid-level vertical velocity field for the core-heating scenario -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Enceladus, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Modulation Effect Of Ice Thickness Variations On Convection In Icy Ocean Worlds

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2023July 19, 2023

It has been long puzzling whether the ice thickness variations observed on Enceladus can be sustained sorely by a polar-amplified bottom heating. The key to this question is to understand […]

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Phosphate, A Key Building Block Of Life, Found On Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

by Keith CowingJune 18, 2023June 16, 2023

An international team including a University of Washington scientist has found that the water on one of Saturn’s moons harbors phosphates, a key building block of life. The team led […]

Jupiter's moon, Europa, is slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon and is one of the most promising places to search for alien life.

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Europa, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Europa May Have Had A Slow Evolution

by Keith CowingJune 16, 2023June 16, 2023

Amid the Jovian system, Europa is of particular interest to scientists because of the strong evidence for nutrients, water and energy to potentially provide a habitable environment for some form […]

Zonal-mean temperature (T, a), salinity anomaly (S, b), and potential density anomaly (ρσ, with reference pressure near the ocean surface, c) in the quasi-equilibrium state of all simulations. The first to the fourth columns are results of the high salinity simulation with high horizontal diffusivity (HSh), high salinity simulation with low horizontal diffusivity (HSl), low salinity simulation with high horizontal diffusivity (LSh), and low salinity simulation with low horizontal diffusivity (LSl), respectively. In (a1) & (a2), the contour interval is 0.01 ◦C below -2.14 ◦C and 0.001 ◦C above -2.14 ◦C. In (a3) & (a4), the contour interval is 0.01 ◦C below -0.6 ◦C and 0.2 ◦C above -0.6 ◦C. In (b1) & (b2), a reference salinity of 34.97 g kg−1 is subtracted, and the contour interval is 10−3 g kg−1 . In (b3) & (b4), a reference salinity of 8.45 g kg−1 is subtracted, and the contour interval is 5×10−4 g kg−1 . In (c1) & (c2), a reference density of 1029.13 kg m−3 is subtracted, and the contour interval is 10−3 kg m−3 below 5 × 10−3 kg m−3 and 3 × 10−4 kg m−3 above 5×10−3 kg m−3 . In (c3) & (c4), a reference density of 1007.7 kg m−3 is subtracted, and the contour interval is 10−3 kg m−3 below -10−2 kg m−3 and 5 × 10−3 kg m−3 above -10−2 kg m−3 --- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Effect Of Salinity On Ocean Circulation And Ice-ocean Interaction On Enceladus

by Keith CowingJune 16, 2023June 16, 2023

Observational data suggest that the ice shell on Enceladus is thicker at the equator than at the pole, indicating an equator-to-pole ice flow.

SwRI Lead Scientist Dr. Christopher Glein was part of a team that found phosphorus, a key building block for life, from the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus. Liquid water erupts from the moon’s subsurface ocean, forming a plume that contains grains of frozen ocean water. Some of these ice grains go on to form Saturn’s E ring. The team analyzed Cassini spacecraft data from ice grains in the E ring, which revealed fingerprints of soluble phosphate salts from Enceladus’ ocean. Credit: Courtesy of SwRI and Freie Universität Berlin

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Phosphorus – A Key Building Block For life – Found On Enceladus

by Keith CowingJune 14, 2023June 14, 2023

The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system just got more exciting. A team of scientists including Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Christopher Glein has discovered new evidence that the […]

NASA/ESA/CSA's James Webb Space Telescope’s exquisite sensitivity and highly specialised instruments are revealing details into how one of Saturn’s moon’s feeds the water supply for the entire system of the ringed planet. Larger image -- ESA/NASA

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Webb Space Telescope Maps Surprisingly Large Plume Jetting From Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

by Keith CowingMay 30, 2023May 30, 2023

A water vapour plume from Saturn’s moon Enceladus spanning more than 9600 kilometres — long enough to stretch across the Eurasian continent from Ireland to Japan — has been detected […]

New modeling shows that there likely is an ocean layer in four of Uranus’ major moons: Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Salty – or briny – oceans lie under the ice and atop layers of water-rich rock and dry rock. Miranda is too small to retain enough heat for an ocean layer. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Ariel, Icy Worlds, Miranda, Oberon, Press Release, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A New Study of Uranus’ Large Moons Shows That Four May Hold Water

by Keith CowingMay 4, 2023December 18, 2023

Re-analysis of data from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, along with new computer modeling, has led NASA scientists to conclude that four of Uranus’ largest moons likely contain an ocean layer between […]

Ocean world

Global Biosignatures: Climate Change Lends New Color To Earth’s Ocean

Tricorder Tech: Translation As A Biosignature

Reinforcement Learning Allows Underwater Robots To Locate And Track Objects Underwater

The Modulation Effect Of Ice Thickness Variations On Convection In Icy Ocean Worlds

Phosphate, A Key Building Block Of Life, Found On Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

Europa May Have Had A Slow Evolution

The Effect Of Salinity On Ocean Circulation And Ice-ocean Interaction On Enceladus

Phosphorus – A Key Building Block For life – Found On Enceladus

Webb Space Telescope Maps Surprisingly Large Plume Jetting From Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

A New Study of Uranus’ Large Moons Shows That Four May Hold Water

Alta-X Drone Tests Future Astrobiology / Astrogeology Droid Technology

Landforms In Ares Vallis Carved Out By Ancient Water Flow

Evolution of Stellar Activity and Habitable Zone (EATEN): III. X-ray Activity of Dwarfs in Open Clusters and Field Stars

Radial Velocity Detection Of The TRAPPIST-1 Planetary System With SPIRou And NIRPS

Structure Of An RNA polymerase Ribozyme Replication Complex