Related papers: The Vegetation Red Edge Biosignature Through Time …
The so-called Vegetation Red-Edge (VRE), a sharp increase in the reflectance around $700 nm$, is a characteristic of vegetation spectra, and can therefore be used as a biomarker if it can be detected in an unresolved extrasolar Earth-like…
The detection of exolife is one of the goals of very ambitious future space missions that aim to take direct images of Earth-like planets. While associations of simple molecules present in the planet's atmosphere ($O_2$, $O_3$, $CO_2$ etc.)…
Earth's deciduous plants have a sharp order-of-magnitude increase in leaf reflectance between approximately 700 and 750 nm wavelength. This strong reflectance of Earth's vegetation suggests that surface biosignatures with sharp spectral…
We analyse the detectability of vegetation on a global scale on Earth's surface. Considering its specific reflectance spectrum showing a sharp edge around 700 nm, vegetation can be considered as a potential global biomarker. This work,…
Recent discoveries of potentially habitable exoplanets have ignited the prospect of spectroscopic investigations of exoplanet surfaces and atmospheres for signs of life. This chapter provides an overview of potential surface and temporal…
The vegetation's ``red edge'', an intensity bump in the Earth's spectrum near 700 $nm$ when sunlight is reflected from greenery, is often suggested as a tool in the search for life in terrestrial-like extrasolar planets. Here, through…
When Carl Sagan observed the Earth during a Gallileo fly-by in 1993, he found a widely distributed surface pigment with a sharp reflection edge in the red part of the spectrum, which, together with the abundance of gaseous oxygen and…
The search for Earth-like extrasolar planets is in part motivated by the potential detection of spectroscopic biomarkers. Spectroscopic biomarkers are spectral features that are either consistent with life, indicative of habitability, or…
Reflection spectroscopy holds great promise for characterizing the atmospheres and surfaces of potentially habitable terrestrial exoplanets. The surface of the modern Earth exhibits a sharp albedo change near 750 nm caused by vegetation -…
We report spectroscopic observations (400 to 800nm, R = approx 100) of Earthshine in June, July and October 2001 from which normalised Earth albedo spectra have been derived. The resulting spectra clearly show the blue colour of the Earth…
Understanding the spectral and photometric variability of the Earth and the rest of the solar system planets has become of the utmost importance for the future characterization of rocky exoplanets. As this is not only interesting at present…
The detection and characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets is one of the chief goals of astrophysics for the coming decades. Imaging in reflected light is well suited for characterizing Earth-like planets, as much can be learned…
In the search for life in the cosmos, biopigments on exoplanet surfaces are a critical target. Such pigments have been detected in Earth's spectrum (by the Galileo spacecraft and in Earthshine) via the "vegetation" or "photosynthesis red…
Thousands of planets beyond our solar system have been discovered to date, dozens of which are rocky in composition and are orbiting within the circumstellar habitable zone of their host star. The next frontier in life detection beyond our…
Remote sensing of the Earth has demonstrated that photosynthesis is traceable as the vegetation red edge (VRE), which is the steep rise in the reflection spectrum of vegetation, and as solar-induced fluorescence. This study examined the…
We present a comprehensive set of spectropolarimetric observations of Earthshine as obtained by FORS2 at the VLT for phase angles from 50degree to 135degree (Sun-Earth-Moon angle), covering a spectral range from 430nm to 920nm. The degree…
Vegetation can modify the planetary surface albedo via the Charney mechanism, as plants are usually darker than the bare surface of the continents. We updated ESTM (Earth-like Surface Temperature Model) to incorporate the presence,…
Long-term magma ocean phases on rocky exoplanets orbiting closer to their star than the runaway greenhouse threshold - the inner edge of the classical habitable zone - may offer insights into the physical and chemical processes that…
Planet Earth has evolved from an entirely anoxic planet with possibly a different tectonic regime to the oxygenated world with horizontal plate tectonics that we know today. For most of this time, Earth has been inhabited by a purely…
Over the past two decades, enormous advances in the detection of exoplanets have taken place. Currently, we have discovered hundreds of earth-sized planets, several of them within the habitable zone of their star. In the coming years, the…