Lena Noack: Planetary interior and habitability

Københavns Universitets Videoportal

Professor in Earth Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

With expertise in the structure of and interior dynamics of rocky planets, Lena Noack has made important contributions to our understanding of the coupling between the interior, surface and atmosphere of solar system planets as well as exoplanets, including studies of Proxima Centauri b and the Trappist 1 planets.

Abstract: The possible evolution paths of a rocky planet and its surface can be very diverse, and depend on several different interior and exterior processes. These are related for example to the planet's mass and compositon, or the stellar activity and orbital configuration of the planetary system.
Theoretical models studying the accretion and later evolution of rocky planets, including the initiation of plate tectonis or the build-up capacity of a secondary atmosphere, can help us to understand the range of potential habitable surface conditions. In addition, we can aim to map the possible range of abitic background atmospheres, in which then to search for life e.g. by combinations of gases that would not be (easily) explained by geophysical processes alone.
Here I will give an overview of our current understanding and theoretical predictions of the range of atmospheres that we may expect when only considering volcanic outgassing.