Current and Past Projects by BMSIS Scientists

Planets orbiting low-mass stars are the best opportunity to search for habitable planets with the James Webb Space Telescope and the next generation of ground- and space-based telescopes. Planets that orbit these red dwarf stars are prone to “tidal locking,” so that one side of the planet experiences perpetual day and the other side experiences perpetual night. This is even more likely for planets that are potentially habitable, such as those that might have liquid water oceans. This project uses a computationally fast climate model to explore a wide range of possible climates for such planets, with the goal of being able to place constraints on the habitability of currently known and to-be-discovered planets orbiting red dwarf stars.

The ultimate longevity of Earth’s biosphere is limited. Eventually, over geologic time scales, rock weathering and the steadily brightening sun will draw down carbon dioxide until the point at which plants can no longer conduct photosynthesis, which will mark the end of the biosphere as we know it. Numerous theoretical studies have placed limits on the end of the biosphere as ranging from 0.9 to 1.5 billion years from now. This project will use improved climate models and insights from photosynthesis on Earth to demonstrate that Earth could maintain a thriving biosphere at even lower carbon dioxide levels than previously thought, which would allow Earth to remain habitable even longer.