The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 68 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Spectral Evolution of an Earth‐like Planet
Open accessAbstract
We have developed a characterization of the geological evolution of the Earth's atmosphere and surface in order to model the observable spectra of an Earth-like planet through its geological history. These calculations are designed to guide the interpretation of an observed spectrum of such a planet by future instruments that will characterize exoplanets. Our models focus on planetary environmental characteristics whose resultant spectral features can be used to imply habitability or the presence of life. These features are generated by H 2 O, CO 2 , CH 4 , O 2 , O 3 , N 2 O, and vegetation-like surface albedos. We chose six geological epochs to characterize. These epochs exhibit a wide range in abundance for these molecules, ranging from a CO 2 -rich early atmosphere, to a CO 2 /CH 4 -rich atmosphere around 2 billion years ago, to a present-day atmosphere. We analyzed the spectra to quantify the strength of each important spectral feature in both the visible and thermal infrared spectral regions, and the resolutions required to optimally detect the features for each epoch. We find a wide range of spectral resolutions required for observing the different features. For example, H 2 O and O 3 can be observed with relatively low resolution, while O 2 and N 2 O require higher resolution. We also find that the inclusion of clouds in our models significantly affects both the strengths of all spectral features and the resolutions required to observe all these.
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“The detectability of Earth's biomarkers would have been different in some earlier geological time periods (Kaltenegger et al., 2007)”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Kaltenegger et al., 2007
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Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Kaltenegger, L., Traub, W. A., & Jucks, K. W.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2007-03-20
- Volume
- 658
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 598-616
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2113408583
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 9.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Keywords
- exoplanet atmospheres, Earth-like planets, atmospheric evolution, geological epochs, atmospheric spectra, habitability, biosignatures, water vapor, ozone, oxygen, nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide, vegetation albedo, thermal infrared spectra, visible spectrum, spectral resolution, clouds
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