MAS July Meeting Presentation

The Role of Oceans in Earth and Exoplanet Climates

Earth has had an ocean for more than 4 billion years. It likely formed sometime after the beginning of the Hadean Eon (4.6-4 billion years ago) via mantle degassing as the planet cooled. Although we know significantly more about the modern ocean than we do about its deepest past, an ever-growing body of research suggests that the key to understanding the origin and evolution of life on our planet, and perhaps planets elsewhere, may well be hidden in the ocean’s physical and chemical complexities. In this talk, I will give a broad overview of the fundamental role the ocean plays—and has played—in Earth’s history, from the evolution of early life to the climate we know today…