Islands of Life Across Space and Time

Description

First Quantitative Evaluation of Planetary Habitability

A new study by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo shows the first quantitative evaluation of planetary habitability . The study identifies some potential habitats in the solar system and also shows how the habitability of our planet has changed in the past, with some periods being even better than today.

Abel Mendez presented his results on Monday, October 5, at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Fajardo, Puerto Rico.

The study of planetary habitability has become more important with climate change and so has the search for habitable environments in the solar system and beyond. Many environmental factors control the habitability of a planet in complex ways, but a direct assessment of the habitability of a planet has been a continuous problem in planetary sciences.

“It is surprising that there is no agreement on a quantitative definition of habitability. There are well-established measures of habitability in ecology since the 1970s, but only a few recent studies have proposed better alternatives for the astrobiology field, which is more oriented to microbial life. However, none of the existing alternatives from the fields of ecology to astrobiology has demonstrated a practical approach at planetary scales,” said Mendez, a biophysicist from the Department of Physics and Chemistry.

Mendez’s approach to the study of planetary habitability started with the development of a Quantitative Habitability Theory (QH Theory) to assess the current state of terrestrial habitability and to establish a baseline for relevant ...

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http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3270/islands-of-life-across-space-and-time

http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3270/islands-of-life-across-space-and-time