Biology
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p24b..03c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P24B-03
Biology
[0343] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Planetary Atmospheres, [0406] Biogeosciences / Astrobiology And Extraterrestrial Materials, [5210] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology / Planetary Atmospheres, Clouds, And Hazes, [5405] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Atmospheres
Scientific paper
Through the greenhouse effect, the presence and composition of an atmosphere is critical for defining a (conventional) circumstellar habitable zone in terms of planetary surface temperatures suitable for liquid water. Lack of knowledge of planetary atmospheres is likely to frustrate attempts to say with any certainty whether detected terrestrial-sized exoplanets may or may not be habitable. Perhaps an underappreciated role in such considerations is the evolutionary effect of atmospheric escape for determining atmospheric composition or whether an atmosphere exists in the first place. Whether atmospheres exist at all on planets is demonstrably connected to the effect of integrated atmospheric escape. When we observe our own Solar System and transiting exoplanets, the existence of an atmosphere is clearly delineated by a relative vulnerability to thermal escape and impact erosion. The prevalence of thermal escape as a key evolutionary determinant for the presence of planetary atmosphere is shown by a relationship between the relative solar (or stellar) heating and the escape velocity. Those bodies with too much stellar heating and too smaller escape velocity end up devoid of atmospheres. Impact erosion is evident in the relationship between impact velocity and escape velocity. Escape due to impacts is particularly important for understanding the large differences in the atmospheres of giant planet moons, such as Ganymede versus Titan. It is also significant for Mars-sized planets. The oxidation state of atmospheres is important for some theories of the origin of life (where an early reducing atmosphere is helpful for organic synthesis) and the evolution of advanced life (where free molecular oxygen is the best source of high energy metabolism). Surfaces on some relatively small planets and moons are observed to have evolved to an oxidized state, which theory and observation can explain through atmospheric escape. There are several examples in the Solar System where a net escape of hydrogen relative to heavier oxygen is the generally accepted explanation for the present oxidation state: Venus and Mars amongst the planets, and Ganymede, Europa, and Rhea amongst bodies with extremely tenuous atmospheres. We also argue that hydrogen escape was the key factor for oxidizing the Earth and facilitating the increase of photosynthetically-produced oxygen in the Proterozoic atmosphere. Our view about the primacy of hydrogen escape with regard to the Earth's atmospheric oxygenation is perhaps less widely accepted. However, it was inevitable that hydrogen escaped from Earth's early anoxic atmosphere at a significant rate. The result was a very big integrated oxidation consistent with what is observed in the Earth's crust in addition to some export to the mantle. In conclusion, a better understanding of atmospheric escape processes appears critical for understanding the suitability of planets for harboring life from simple to advanced forms.
Catling David C.
Zahnle Kevin J.
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