529 citations · 1.6k across the 24 of their papers we have counts for
24 papers
Evaluating the Plausible Range of N2O Biosignatures on Exo-Earths: An Integrated Biogeochemical, Photochemical, and Spectral Modeling Approach
Edward W. Schwieterman, Stephanie L. Olson, Daria Pidhorodetska +7
Nitrous oxide (N2O) -- a product of microbial nitrogen metabolism -- is a compelling exoplanet biosignature gas with distinctive spectral features in the near- and mid-infrared, an…
The future lifespan of Earth's oxygenated Atmosphere
K. Ozaki, C. Reinhard
Earth's modern atmosphere is highly oxygenated and is a remotely detectable signal of its surface biosphere. However, the lifespan of oxygen-based biosignatures in Earth's atmosphe…
Constraining Prebiotic Chemistry Through a Better Understanding of Earth's Earliest Environments
Timothy W. Lyons, Karyn Rogers, Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy +5
Any search for present or past life beyond Earth should consider the initial processes and related environmental controls that might have led to its start. As on Earth, such an und…
Oceanic and atmospheric methane cycling in the cGENIE Earth system model
Christopher T. Reinhard, Stephanie L. Olson, Sandra Kirtland Turner +3
The methane cycle is a key component of the Earth system that links planetary climate, biological metabolism, and the global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, oxygen, sulfur, and hy…
Exogeoscience and Its Role in Characterizing Exoplanet Habitability and the Detectability of Life
Cayman T. Unterborn, Paul K. Byrne, Ariel D. Anbar +24
The search for exoplanetary life must encompass the complex geological processes reflected in an exoplanet's atmosphere, or we risk reporting false positive and false negative dete…
Nutrient Supply to Planetary Biospheres from Anoxic Weathering of Mafic Oceanic Crust
Drew D. Syverson, Christopher T. Reinhard, Terry T. Isson +6
Phosphorus is an essential element for life, and the phosphorous cycle is widely believed to be a key factor limiting the extent of Earth's biosphere and its impact on remotely det…
A sluggish mid-Proterozoic biosphere and its effect on Earth's redox balance
Kazumi Ozaki, Christopher T. Reinhard, Eiichi Tajika
The possibility of low but nontrivial atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels during the mid-Proterozoic (between 1.8 and 0.8 billion years ago, Ga) has important ramifications for understa…
Anoxygenic photosynthesis and the delayed oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere
Kazumi Ozaki, Katharine J. Thompson, Rachel L. Simister +2
The emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis created a new niche with dramatic potential to transform energy flow through Earth's biosphere. However, more primitive forms of photosynth…
Effects of primitive photosynthesis on Earth's early climate system
Kazumi Ozaki, Eiichi Tajika, Peng K. Hong +2
The evolution of different forms of photosynthetic life has profoundly altered the activity level of the biosphere, radically reshaping the composition of Earth's oceans and atmosp…
Rethinking CO Antibiosignatures in the Search for Life Beyond the Solar System
Edward W. Schwieterman, Christopher T. Reinhard, Stephanie L. Olson +4
Some atmospheric gases have been proposed as counter indicators to the presence of life on an exoplanet if remotely detectable at sufficient abundance (i.e., antibiosignatures), in…
The remote detectability of Earth's biosphere through time and the importance of UV capability for characterizing habitable exoplanets
Christopher T. Reinhard, Edward W. Schwieterman, Stephanie L. Olson +10
Thousands of planets beyond our solar system have been discovered to date, dozens of which are rocky in composition and are orbiting within the circumstellar habitable zone of thei…
The Super-Earth Opportunity - Search for Habitable Exoplanets in the 2020s
Renyu Hu, Charles A. Beichman, David Brain +23
The recent discovery of a staggering diversity of planets beyond the Solar System has brought with it a greatly expanded search space for habitable worlds. The Kepler exoplanet sur…
A Statistical Comparative Planetology Approach to Maximize the Scientific Return of Future Exoplanet Characterization Efforts
Jade H. Checlair, Dorian S. Abbot, Robert J. Webber +37
Provided that sufficient resources are deployed, we can look forward to an extraordinary future in which we will characterize potentially habitable planets. Until now, we have had…
The Importance of 3D General Circulation Models for Characterizing the Climate and Habitability of Terrestrial Extrasolar Planets
Eric T. Wolf, Ravi Kopparapu, Vladimir Airapetian +27
While recently discovered exotic new planet-types have both challenged our imaginations and broadened our knowledge of planetary system workings, perhaps the most compelling object…
A Limited Habitable Zone for Complex Life
Edward W. Schwieterman, Christopher T. Reinhard, Stephanie L. Olson +2
The habitable zone (HZ) is commonly defined as the range of distances from a host star within which liquid water, a key requirement for life, may exist on a planet's surface. Subst…
Atmospheric Seasonality as an Exoplanet Biosignature
Stephanie L. Olson, Edward W. Schwieterman, Christopher T. Reinhard +4
Current investigations of exoplanet biosignatures have focused on static evidence of life, such as the presence of biogenic gases like O2 or CH4. However, the expected diversity of…
Earth as an Exoplanet
Tyler D. Robinson, Christopher T. Reinhard
Earth is the only planet known to harbor life and, as a result, the search for habitable and inhabited planets beyond the Solar System commonly focuses on analogs to our planet. Ho…
Earth: Atmospheric Evolution of a Habitable Planet
Stephanie L. Olson, Edward W. Schwieterman, Christopher T. Reinhard +1
Our present-day atmosphere is often used as an analog for potentially habitable exoplanets, but Earth's atmosphere has changed dramatically throughout its 4.5 billion year history.…
Life Beyond the Solar System: Remotely Detectable Biosignatures
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Nancy Y. Kiang, Niki Parenteau +38
For the first time in human history, we will soon be able to apply the scientific method to the question "Are We Alone?" The rapid advance of exoplanet discovery, planetary systems…
The Importance of UV Capabilities for Identifying Inhabited Exoplanets with Next Generation Space Telescopes
Edward Schwieterman, Christopher Reinhard, Stephanie Olson +1
The strongest remotely detectable signature of life on our planet today is the photosynthetically produced oxygen (O2) in our atmosphere. However, recent studies of Earth's geochem…
Exoplanet Biosignatures: Understanding Oxygen as a Biosignature in the Context of Its Environment
Victoria S. Meadows, Christopher T. Reinhard, Giada N. Arney +13
Here we review how environmental context can be used to interpret whether O2 is a biosignature in extrasolar planetary observations. This paper builds on the overview of current bi…
Exoplanet Biosignatures: Future Directions
Sara I. Walker, William Bains, Leroy Cronin +11
Exoplanet science promises a continued rapid accumulation of new observations in the near future, energizing a drive to understand and interpret the forthcoming wealth of data to i…
Exoplanet Biosignatures: A Review of Remotely Detectable Signs of Life
Edward W. Schwieterman, Nancy Y. Kiang, Mary N. Parenteau +15
In the coming years and decades, advanced space- and ground-based observatories will allow an unprecedented opportunity to probe the atmospheres and surfaces of potentially habitab…
False negatives for remote life detection on ocean-bearing planets: Lessons from the early Earth
C. T. Reinhard, S. L. Olson, E. W. Schwieterman +1
Ocean-atmosphere chemistry on Earth has undergone dramatic evolutionary changes through its long history, with potentially significant ramifications for the emergence and long-term…