09/30/2024
By Lynne Schaufenbil
Title: Escape from terrestrial planets: water loss and the evolution of habitability on Mars and Venus
Abstract: Though Mars and Venus today are desiccated and uninhabitable, both were once potentially habitable, with enough water to cover their surfaces in an ocean as deep as ~100s of m (Mars) to ~3 km (Venus). On both planets, much of the water was likely lost to space via escape of its constituent atoms, deuterium (2H, or D) and hydrogen (H). Studying these escape rates today forms a basis for understanding the evolution of water on these planets over time. In this talk, I will discuss recent advances in the study of atmospheric escape from Mars and Venus, including several studies that focus on the variability of D and H escape over time at Mars, and our recent paper in Nature which demonstrates that the most important loss process of H and D at Venus has been missed by the planetary science community for decades. I will explain the implications of these results for past and present water loss, and by extension the habitability of both planets, and will end by touching on some of the ongoing challenges in understanding planetary habitability by studying our two nearest Solar System neighbors.
Bio: Eryn Cangi is a research scientist and member of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission team at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder. She received her Ph.D. in Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences also from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2023, focusing on atmospheric modeling of water loss from Mars and Venus.
Please contact Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu for the Zoom link if you are interested in attending.