We review the state of knowledge on the origin of Earth’s water. Empirical constraints come from chemical and isotopic measurements of solar system bodies and of Earth itself. Dynamical models […]
oceans
Posted inPress Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Questions on How Earth's Atmosphere and Oceans Formed
A new study led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found seawater cycles throughout the Earth’s interior down to 2,900 km (1,800 miles), much deeper than previously thought, reopening […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Our Ocean's Cosmic Origin
A new study published in Science looks beyond the question of whether Earth’s oceans can be traced to comets or other objects from space, and instead asks the question: where […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Super-Earths Have Long-Lasting Oceans
For life as we know it to develop on other planets, those planets would need liquid water, or oceans. Geologic evidence suggests that Earth’s oceans have existed for nearly the […]
Posted inWater/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Oceans Are Vital for Life On Other Planets
New research published today in the journal Astrobiology shows the vital role of oceans in moderating climate on Earth-like planets. Until now, computer simulations of habitable climates on Earth-like planets […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Geologists Confirm Oxygen Levels of Ancient Oceans
Zunli Lu and Xiaoli Zhou, an assistant professor and Ph.D. student, respectively, in the Department of Earth Sciences, are part of an international team of researchers whose findings have been […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Global Warming Felt to Deepest Reaches of Ocean
In the mid-1970s, the first available satellite images of Antarctica during the polar winter revealed a huge ice-free region within the ice pack of the Weddell Sea. This ice-free region, […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones
Super Earths Likely To Have Both Oceans and Continents
Massive terrestrial planets, called “super-Earths,” are known to be common in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now a Northwestern University astrophysicist and a University of Chicago geophysicist report the odds […]
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 inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life
Serpentinization of Ocean Crust and The Origin of Life
In a new study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, scientists funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) advance a theory about life’s origins based on the […]