Planetary Sciences

Prof. Roger Fu and Grad Student Sarah Steele featured in Science Magazine

January 3, 2023
Once upon a time, scientists believe, Mars was far from today’s cold, inhospitable desert. Rivers carved canyons, lakes filled craters, and a magnetic field may have fended off space radiation, keeping it from eating away the atmospheric moisture. As the martian interior cooled, leading theories hold, its magnetic field died out, leaving the atmosphere undefended and ending this warm and wet period, when the planet might have hosted life. But researchers can’t agree on when that happened. Read the full article here: ... Read more about Prof. Roger Fu and Grad Student Sarah Steele featured in Science Magazine
Goat Peak

EPS 120/220 Field Trip to the Connecticut River Valley

September 20, 2022
This weekend, EPS 120/220 Introduction to Planetary Sciences students got hands-on experience with ~200 million year old flood basalts and sedimentary sequences in the Connecticut River Valley. Students visited outcrops of the Holyoke and Talcott Basalts as well as the sedimentary Shuttle Mountain and East Berlin Formations on their excursion.
2023 Apr 24

EPS Colloquium - Bärbel Hönisch, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University in the City of New York

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  Reconstructions of Cenozoic atmospheric CO2 and ocean carbon cycle perturbations

Abstract:  My research interests focus on understanding the role of the ocean, and in particular the role of marine carbonate chemistry in global climate change. As I was originally trained as a (marine) biologist, my way of approaching paleoceanographic questions often...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Bärbel Hönisch, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University in the City of New York
2023 Apr 10

EPS Colloquium - : Christian Frankenberg, CalTech

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  Carbon-Water cycle interactions from a measurement and modeling perspective

Abstract:  Stomata act as the gate-keeper of carbon uptake and transpiration water losses and can control regional-scale fluxes. Recent studies have found that soil moisture variations are a dominant driver for inter-annual variations in the atmospheric CO2 growth rate, both...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - : Christian Frankenberg, CalTech
2023 Mar 27

EPS Colloquium - Dennis Baldocchi, UC- Berkeley

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  Lessons Learned about the Breathing of the Biosphere, from a Californian Network of Greenhouse Gas Flux Measurement Towers

Abstract:  This talk will revolve around lessons learned by collecting quasi-continuous and long term trace gas fluxes from a network of managed and natural fields sites across California. We will investigate if and how fluxes are...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Dennis Baldocchi, UC- Berkeley
2023 Feb 06

EPS Colloquium - Richard Teague, MIT

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  Witnessing the Assembly of Planetary Systems

Abstract:  We have observed a stunning diversity in the properties of exoplanetary systems which questions our understanding of planet formation. Does this diversity arise from differences in initial conditions? Are there multiple modes of planet formation which preferentially build different types of planets? Or does this diversity stem from the evolution of the newly born planetary system as the natal protoplanetary disk dissipates? Over the last several years we have gained an incredible...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Richard Teague, MIT
2022 Nov 07

EPS Colloquium - Katherine de Kleer, CalTech

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  The Thermal Histories of Solar System Moons and Small Bodies

Abstract:  The heat flow of a planetary body plays a major role in defining its evolution and current composition, driving processes from internal differentiation during its formation period through geological activity at the current time. However, these same active processes erase many of the surface signatures that would allow us to reconstruct its long-term thermal history. In this talk, I will present novel observational approaches, using primarily the ALMA interferometer...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Katherine de Kleer, CalTech
2022 Oct 24

EPS Colloquium - Noah Diffenbaugh, Stanford University

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title: Quantifying causes and consequences of historical changes in extreme climate conditions

Abstract:  Although the world is making progress in ramping up ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through global, national, local and non-governmental frameworks, it has now also become clear that we are already being impacted by the global warming that has already occurred...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Noah Diffenbaugh, Stanford University
2022 Sep 19

EPS Colloquium - Lidya Tarhan, Yale University

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hal) and Zoom

Talk Title:  The Evolution of the Marine Carbonate Factory and the Rise of Biomineralizing Animals

Abstract: Formation of calcium carbonate is one of the primary pathways by which carbon is recycled between the ocean-atmosphere system and the solid Earth. On long timescales, changes in the magnitude of the marine carbonate factory—the...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Lidya Tarhan, Yale University
2022 Sep 12

EPS Colloquium - Hilke Schlichting Professor in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences and Dean for Research at UCLA

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title: Rocky planet formation with primordial H2-rich atmospheres: Implications for Super-Earths, Sub-Neptunes and Earth

Abstract: Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are the most abundant exoplanets discovered to date. Recent models of atmospheric evolution and erosion by core-powered mass loss and/or photo-evaporation suggest that these two populations of exoplanets might have been born as one. In my talk, I will explore the question as to how primary,...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Hilke Schlichting Professor in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences and Dean for Research at UCLA
2022 Nov 18

Planetary Journal Club

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

GEo Mus 418
Planetary Journal Club is a joint journal club between EPS and the Center for Astrophysics. Members discuss recent journal articles on planetary science, which often include Solar System objects as well as exoplanets. Articles for discussion are curated based on a semesterly theme. Meetings are weekly. Meeting times for Fall 2022 are 12-1 pm on Fridays with lunch provided. Announcements are sent to the... Read more about Planetary Journal Club
2022 Oct 28

Planetary Journal Club

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 418

Planetary Journal Club is a joint journal club between EPS and the Center for Astrophysics. Members discuss recent journal articles on planetary science, which often include Solar System objects as well as exoplanets. Articles for discussion are curated based on a semesterly theme. Meetings are weekly. Meeting times for Fall 2022 are 12-1 pm on Fridays with lunch provided. Announcements are sent to the...

Read more about Planetary Journal Club

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