Past Science Seminars
September 12, 2024
Detectability and chemistry of hydrocarbons in interstellar and planetary environments
Jordy Bouwman
(LASP, CU)
Hydrocarbons of all sorts and sizes are found throughout the various stages of star and planet formation. For example, from infrared spectroscopic observations we have learned that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous in space. The...
September 5, 2024
The Net Radiative Effect of the “Clear-Sky” Near Clouds
Eshkol Eytan
(NOAA)
Clouds strongly modulate the radiative transfer in the atmosphere by inducing large deviations from clear-sky fluxes. This implies that the radiative effect of clouds (CRE) on their surroundings, even if small relative to CRE, will be large compared to clear-sky...
August 7, 2024
Chasing the eclipse 2024: extending totality via coordinated observations from ground and air
Amir Caspi
(Southwest Research Institute)
Total solar eclipses are spectacular astronomical phenomena that allow unique studies of the solar corona. While observing windows at fixed sites are only a few minutes long, “chasing” the Moon’s shadow enables longer observing periods, enhancing...
August 29, 2024
The Enceladus-Exoplanet Connection: How Molecular Hydrogen on Ocean Worlds Could Support Life
Christopher Glein
(Southwest Research Institute)
Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a subsurface ocean that erupts into space, forming a plume. We sampled the plume using the Cassini spacecraft and found that it contains materials that can fuel methane formation, namely CO2 and H2....
August 15, 2024
XUV-Driven Mass Loss from Hot Saturns
Daniel Thorngreen
(Johns Hopkins University)
It is now well-established that mass loss processes play an important role in sculpting the population of Neptunes and sub-Neptunes. For higher-mass planets, while XUV-driven mass loss has been both theoretically predicted and observed, it has...
May 30, 2024
Observations of Massive Coronal Mass Ejections from Young Sun-like Stars: Insights into How the Young Sun Affected the Early Earth
Kosuke Namekata
(Kyoto University/NAOJ)
Abstract: Young Sun-like stars frequently produce “superflares”, serving as models for the young Sun-Earth environment. Large solar flares are closely linked to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with filament/prominence eruptions, but its evidence for stellar superflares...
May 23, 2024
Nanodust and Enceladus and Saturn’s Rings, oh my! - Probing Saturn’s ring-moon system with nanodust.
Sean Hsu
(LASP, CU)
After exploring the Saturn system for more than 13 years, September 15th, 2017 marked the end of the NASA-ESA joint Cassini-Huygens mission. Before diving into and becoming a part of Saturn, the spacecraft witnessed a once-in-decades...
May 16, 2024
A Tale of Planetary Adolescence and Evolution
Adina Feinstein
(LASP)
Within the past decade, we have discovered only a dozen young (< 300 Myr) short-period exoplanets, compared to ~5,600 mature exoplanets. The radii of these young planets are larger than older planets on similar orbital periods....
May 2, 2024
Improving Whole Atmospheric Reanalysis by Assimilating GOLD Observations in WACCMX
Fazlul Laskar
(LASP)
Remember the saying “All models are wrong, but some are useful”. Well, some of the useful models can be made realistic by ingesting experimental measurements through data assimilation. This presentation will show examples of how Global...
April 25, 2024
Understanding and Modeling the Mysterious Dropout of Radiation Belt Electrons
Weichao Tu
(West Virginia University)
The discovery of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts in 1958 revealed the hazardous radiative environment for spacecraft operating within. Understanding, modeling, and eventually predicting the dynamics of energetic electrons in the radiation belts have long been...
April 11, 2024
The Habitable Worlds Observatory: Mission Overview and the Path to Discovery
Kevin France
(LASP)
The discovery of thousands of planets orbiting stars beyond the solar system has fundamentally shifted our view of Earth’s place in the Universe, has captivated the public imagination, and has transformed research priorities in astrophysics. Those...
March 21, 2024
Measuring the stratosphere: what balloons are really doing
Matthew Norgren
(LASP)
The Earth’s stratosphere, which sits above the troposphere, is a difficult place to make measurements. The highest-flying aircraft can only reach the lowermost portion of the stratosphere, while space-based sensors orbiting well above are limited by...
April 18, 2024
Ultraviolet Mars: The Search for More Science
Justin Deighan
(LASP, CU)
Tremendous new insights into the Martian atmosphere have been achieved in recent years by two ultraviolet spectrographs built at LASP: the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) aboard the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, and the...
March 12, 2024
Earth Science Applications: Lessons Learned
Lawrence Friedl
(NASA)
NASA Earth Science has put significant attention towards enabling uses of Earth science information to support decision making activities by public and private sector organizations. In addition to supporting technical innovations, NASA also pursued several programmatic...
March 7, 2024
Climate Responses Under an Extreme Quiet Sun Scenario
Hanli Liu
(NCAR/HAO)
Fundamental understanding of the climate responses to solar variability is obscured by the large and complex climate variability. This long-standing issue is addressed here by examining climate responses under an extreme quiet sun (EQS) scenario, obtained...
February 22, 2024
Dynamical Surprises in Saturn’s Rings
Glen Stewart
(CU/LASP)
Our current understanding of planet formation is informed by ongoing observations of circumstellar disks around young stars. The improving spatial resolution of these observations has revealed a variety of structures in these dusty gas disks, including...
February 8, 2024
Filling the Gap: Observing Coronal Mass Ejections Continuously Through the Low-, Middle-, and Outer Corona
Phil Chamberlin
(LASP)
On April 8 of this year a large portion of the United States will be able to view one of the most amazing natural phenomena – a total solar eclipse that will sweep across the nation....
January 18, 2024
Science of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt
Paul Hayne
(CU/LASP)
Asteroids in the main belt are a diverse population of early solar system remnants, recording both primordial conditions and later dynamical events. Despite their orbital similarities, main-belt asteroids exhibit a wide range of compositional classes indicating...
January 11, 2024
Gravity Wave Variations and Their Influence on Atmospheric Coupling Processes during Stratospheric Sudden Warmings
Chihoko Cullens
(LASP)
Understanding atmospheric coupling from the troposphere/stratosphere to the upper atmosphere is important for improving climate simulations and space weather forecasts. Gravity waves are one of the key elements in driving atmospheric coupling from the troposphere/stratosphere to...