Transboundary Haze: Islam Prohibits Destruction of Earth

Potential climatic impact of organic haze on early Earth.

We have explored the direct and indirect radiative effects on climate of organic particles likely to have been present on early Earth by measuring their hygroscopicity and cloud nucleating ability. The early Earth analog aerosol particles were generated via ultraviolet photolysis of an early Earth analog gas mixture, which was designed to mimic possible atmospheric conditions before the rise of...

Comparing atmospheric haze of Titan and early Earth

One of the most alluring features of Saturn’s moon Titan is its thick layer of organic haze, which is formed from photochemistry between the methane and nitrogen gas in the high atmosphere. Although the recent Cassini/Huygens probe documented some of the organic constituents of Titan’s atmosphere, the exact composition remains shrouded in the haze. Melissa Trainer et al. mimicked Titan’s chemis...

Organic Haze as a Biosignature in Anoxic Earth-like Atmospheres

Early Earth may have hosted a biologically mediated global organic haze during the Archean eon (3.8-2.5 billion years ago). This haze would have significantly impacted multiple aspects of our planet, including its potential for habitability and its spectral appearance. Here, we model worlds with Archean-like levels of carbon dioxide orbiting the ancient Sun and an M4V dwarf (GJ 876) and show th...

Organic haze on Titan and the early Earth.

Recent exploration by the Cassini/Huygens mission has stimulated a great deal of interest in Saturn's moon, Titan. One of Titan's most captivating features is the thick organic haze layer surrounding the moon, believed to be formed from photochemistry high in the CH(4)/N(2) atmosphere. It has been suggested that a similar haze layer may have formed on the early Earth. Here we report laboratory ...

The Effect of Increased Hydrogen Mixing Ratio on Organic Haze Production on the Early Earth