ALIEN OCEANS

[GordMay]

A New Way To Find Oceans On Distant Planets

Scientists think they have found a new way to detect oceans, and possibly even alien life, on faraway planets.


In a new study [1], published in Nature Astronomy, researchers suggested a hypothesis, that if the atmosphere of an exoplanet contains less carbon dioxide than neighbouring ones, it may contain vast quantities of water, or even life, on its surface.

Locating liquid water on exoplanets has proven a significant challenge as, of the 5,000 or more exoplanets that have been located, none have been confirmed as having liquid water on them.

The new technique proposed may prove effective, because CO2 levels on Earth are low, compared to our neighbours, and it is the perfect climate for liquid water. Carbon is dissolved in the ocean, and is subsequently locked into the Earth’s crust by tectonic activity, creating a carbon sink.

We know that initially, the Earth's atmosphere used to be mostly CO2, but then the carbon dissolved into the ocean, and made the planet able to support life, for the last four billion years, or so.

[1] “Atmospheric carbon depletion as a tracer of water oceans and biomass on temperate terrestrial exoplanets” ~ by Amaury H. M. J. Triaud et al
➥ https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...c703380a82b82d