DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Tuesday 18 June 2013 at 11.15am
Where: Gass Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Colin J.N.Wilson (Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand)
Title: Insights Into the Workings of Rhyolitic Explosive Eruptions and Their Magmatic Sources
Abstract:
Rhyolitic volcanism and its associated crustal magmatism have been widely documented over the past ~50 years, including the largest examples known as ‘supereruptions’. Only three rhyolitic eruptions of any size have occurred over the last ~100 years (Novarupta, Tuluman, Chaiten) and so our knowledge is derived almost entirely from the products of past events. This talk presents an overview of ideas and information from combined field and laboratory case studies which contribute towards addressing the nature and dynamics of large silicic systems.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 13 June 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Marion Masse (Institute of Geological Sciences, Research Centre in Wroclaw, Poland)
Title: Nature and origin of RSL: Spectroscopy and detectability of liquid brines in the near-infrared
Abstract:
If water has likely flowed on Mars in its early history, the current presence of liquid water is debatable. However, some recently discovered fea-tures named “Recurrent Slope Lineae” (RSL) suggest that superficial liquid can occur on present day Mars in a transient state [McEwen et al., 2011]. RSL are dark (up to 40% darker than the surrounding areas), narrow (0.5-5 m) and are mostly found in the southern mid-latitudes. Repeated MRO/HiRISE images reveal that they appear and grow during warm seasons and fade and disappear during cold seasons. They develop on steep slopes (25°-40°), favoring equator-facing slopes, times and places with peak temperatures of ~250-300K.
The most likely formation process of RSL involves the presence of liquid brines near the surface. Brines are more stable on Mars than pure water [e.g. Chevrier et al., 2009] because salts can depress the freezing point of water by up to 70 K. However, this hypothesis suffers from the lack of clear identification of brines with the high resolution CRISM spectra. The mineralogical characterization of RSL is challenging because RSL are much smaller than the ~18 m pixel scale of CRISM data but spectral features diagnostic of water or brines [Hanley et al., 2010] are not observable even on the largest RSL.
The goal of our study is to reproduce with laboratory experiments some hydration and dehydration cycles of different kind of brines mixed with basaltic soil. These experiments aim to understand the spectroscopic behavior of brines during these processes and to determine the diagnostic spectral features that we can expected to find for Martian RSL. We found that, if the surface displays a low albedo from the beginning of the hydration to the end of the dehydration, diagnostic brines absorption bands are only observed when the liquid film is formed. In the future, we thus need to acquire some new CRISM data when the formation of liquid brines is the most likely (early morning and late evening [Gough et al., 2011]) and to compare these date to our experimental spectra.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 6 June 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Stephan Ulamec (DLR, Germany)
Title: Development and Operations of the Rosetta Lander, Philae
Abstract:
Rosetta is a Cornerstone Mission of the ESA Horizon 2000 programme. It is going to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko after a 10 year cruise and will study both its nucleus and coma with an orbiting spacecraft and a landed platform. The latter, named Philae, has been designed to land softly on the comet nucleus and is equipped with 10 scientific instruments to perform in-situ studies of the cometary material. Philae has been provided by a large international consortium.
Since launch, the Lander has been operational during commissioning, several checkouts, two planetary swing-bys at the Earth and one at Mars, fly-bys at asteroids Šteins and Lutetia as well as some additional activities for calibration and failure investigations. Currently, Rosetta is in hibernation; it shall “wake up” early 2014. After a commissioning phase the target comet is to be approached stepwise, the nucleus will be characterized, a landing site selected and eventually, in November 2014, the Lander will be released.
Philae has been designed to cope with a wide variety of possible environmental parameters. Little is known about the comet´s surface characteristics and one of the challenges of this mission is our lack of knowledge regarding the target body.
Image courtesy of ESA.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 30 May 2013 at 2.00pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Professor Sergey Kuznetsov (Russian Academy of Sciences and Saratov State University)
Title: Hyperbolic Chaos: a Physicist’s View
Abstract:
For dissipative dynamical systems, chaos is associated with presence in the state space of a curious object called the strange attractor. A classic example is the Lorenz attractor, for which an accurate mathematical foundation of chaos was found to be a subtle and delicate problem. (It was announced as the 14th Smale problem and resolved only in 2002 by W. Tucker with combination of computer assisted proof and careful analytic considerations.)
An alternative way to uncover physically meaningful and mathematically validated examples of chaos is to turn back to the hyperbolic theory advanced about 40 years ago and to reconsider it in connection with physical and technical systems.
The lecture starts from popular introduction in the hyperbolic theory. Known formal examples of hyperbolic chaotic attractors are considered (Smale-Williams solenoid, Plykin attractor), and a possibility of their occurrence in real-world systems is discussed.
Approaches are reviewed for constructing systems with hyperbolic chaotic attractors. In particular, we consider models driven with periodic pulses; dynamics consisted of periodically repeated stages, each corresponding to specific form of differential equations; design of systems of alternately excited oscillators transmitting excitation to each other; the use of parametric excitation of oscillations; introduction of delayed feedback.
Examples of maps, differential equations, as well as simple mechanical and electronic systems are presented manifesting structurally stable chaotic dynamics due to the occurrence of the uniformly hyperbolic attractors.
Refreshments will be available from 1.30pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 23 May 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Axel Wittmann (Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri)
Title: An LL at El’gygytgyn? Petrologic observations at one of the youngest, large terrestrial impact craters.
Abstract:
The 18 km Ø, 3.6 Ma old El’gygytgyn impact crater in NE Siberia formed in volcanic rocks. An International Continental Scientific Drilling Project core was located 2.3 km from its center, and recovered a very well preserved, 200 m thick section of impactites. Geochemical and petrographic data are used to reconstruct the emplacement of these impactites, and the nature of the impactor. The results are compared with geophysical and numerical models for El’gygytgyn.
Refreshments will be available from 2.00pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Friday 13 May 2013 at 2.00pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Joe Mottram (Universiteit Leiden)
Title: Waterfalls around protostars
Abstract:
How material flows from molecular cores through disks to stars is still poorly constrained. While theories for how this infall should proceed have been around for some time, observational evidence and analysis has been limited to slab models which can only give infall velocities on characteristic scales. Water is uniquely sensitive to motion of any kind within the protostellar environment due to it's low Einstein A coefficient. The combination of multiple water transitions observed as part of the `Water in star-forming regions with Herschel' (WISH) survey and full 1-D non-LTE radiative transfer models of protostellar envelopes provides a new way to probe infalling envelope material. I will present modeling results of seven Class 0/1 protostars which show signs of infall in their water lines where we constrain the flow of material on core to envelope scales, along with other highlights from the WISH survey.
Refreshments will be available from 1.30pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Friday 17 May 2013 at 11.00am
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Frances McCubbin (Institute of Meteoritics, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico)
Title: Magmatic volatiles in the inner solar system: Constraints from apatite in planetary materials and apatite-melt partitioning experiments
Abstract:
Magmatic volatiles like water, C-species, S- species, N-species, and the halides play many important roles in geologic processes on Earth, from magma genesis to climate change. Furthermore, these components are the basis of organic chemistry and they are required for life. However, little is known about the origin, abundances, and roles of magmatic volatiles among the other terrestrial bodies in our Solar System. In the present study, we attempt to gain a first-order understanding of the magmatic volatiles H2O, F, and Cl through analyses and experimental work centered around the calcium-phosphate mineral apatite. The mineral apatite contains F, Cl, and OH as essential structural constituents, and it is ubiquitous in planetary materials. Consequently, we have analyzed apatites from Earth, Moon, Mars, 4-Vesta, and ordinary chondrites to gain a better understanding of the magmatic volatile inventories and distributions within those bodies. Importantly, apatite does not mirror the magmatic volatile load of a fluid or melt from which it formed; therefore, we have conducted petrologic experiments to investigate the partitioning behavior of H2O, F, and Cl between apatite and silicate melts. These experiments allow one to develop quantitative models to to infer concentrations of volatiles in magmatic liquids and source regions. Our work has shown that the inner Solar System is looking much wetter than it has in the past, raising important questions about the origin of volatiles in the terrestrial planets.
Image caption: Back scattered electron image of fine grained portion of martian meteorite QUE 94201, showing many lath like apatite grains
Refreshments will be available from 2.00pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 9 May 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Dr John Bridges (Space Research Centre, Leicester)
Title: Exploring Mars with the Curiosity Rover
Abstract:
Results from the MSL mission will be discussed, in the context of what we know about Mars from orbiters, previous landers and meteorites. Compositional and textural data from Curiosity point towards the action of liquid water in different ways within Gale Crater and an earlier complex igneous history. The use of terrestrial and meteorite analogues is helping us to determine the nature of these processes. Image: NASA
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 25 April 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Professor Iain Gilmour (The Open University)
Title: Deconstructing a hyperthermal: the unique Boltysh crater record of climate change at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
Abstract:
Short-lived transient warming (hyperthermal) events represent some of the most extreme changes in planetary surface conditions in the past 200 Ma with increases in average global temperatures in the region of 6°C. They have many similarities to the current trend of global warming and record major short-term perturbations of the global carbon cycle. As part of a NERC funded project aimed at establishing the links between the Boltysh and Chicxulub impact craters at the K/Pg boundary, we drilled the Boltysh crater to recover over 400 m of Danian lacustrine sediments and impact rocks. The sediments preserve a unique record of the recovery of the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems following the K/Pg event together with a record of a major climate change event less than 300 kyr later. Such high resolution records provide, for the first time, the potential to resolve the respective roles of meteorite impact and volcanism played in the mass extinction event that marked the end of the Mesozoic era 66 Ma ago.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 4 April 2013 at 3pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Professor Guy Libourel (CRPG-CNRS, Université de Lorraine, Nancy)
Title: Chondrule formation: new constraints, new ideas
Abstract:
Chondrules*, which are the major constituent of chondritic meteorites, are believed to have formed during brief, localized, repetitive melting of dust (probably caused by shock waves) in the protoplanetary disk around the early Sun. The ages of primitive chondrules in chondritic meteorites indicate that their formation started shortly after that of the calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (4,567.2 +/- 0.7 Myr ago) and lasted for about 3 Myr, which is consistent with the dissipation timescale for protoplanetary disks around young solar-mass stars. Owing to a mineralogical, chemical and isotopical survey of chondrules, I will show that highly energetic impacts on (or between) planetesimals/planetary embryos causing break-up, rapid melting and vaporization are a plausible alternative for chondrule formation since they provide the high density and highly volatile-enriched environments required to form chondrules. Implications of this new model in term of chronology and dynamic in the protoplanetary disk will be discussed.
(* chondrules = millimeter-sized igneous spheres containing olivine, pyroxene, metal, sulfide and glass)
Refreshments will be available from 2.30pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 21 March 2013 at 2.00pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Dr Christopher Rennick (University of Oxford)
Title: Formation and decay of a molecular ultracold plasma
Abstract:
Nitric oxide is cooled in a molecular beam and is resonantly photo-excited to a high Rydberg state lying below the ionisation limit. This dense ensemble of 50f(2) Rydberg states spontaneously ionise to form a plasma of free electrons trapped in the potential well of the NO+ space charge, in a process that closely parallels that observed in trapped ultracold atoms. Our plasma travels at the velocity of the molecular beam, expanding and evolving under electron-driven dynamics.
On passing through a grid the plasma yields an electron signal that gauges the size and density of the electron cloud, and these time-dependent measurements determine the rate of plasma expansion and decay. The expansion rate is characterised by an electron temperature as low as 5 K, while the decay is driven by the dynamics of electron-ion recombination. Direct recombination of molecular NO+ ions with electrons forms a neutral molecule excited far above the bond strength, leading to fragmentation of the neutral molecule. This two-body dissociative recombination competes with three-body electron-electron-ion recombination into Rydberg states forming an equilibrium with free plasma electrons. A coupled rate equations model describes the kinetics by which this relaxation distributes particle density and energy over Rydberg states, free electrons and neutral fragments. This interplay between recombination mechanisms drives the evolution of the electron density and temperature.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 7 March 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Wojcieh J Markiewicz (Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau)
Title: Morphology, dynamics and physical properties of the Venus upper clouds from imaging with Venus Monitoring Camera on Venus Express
Abstract:
The Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on Venus Express (VEX) spacecraft has been observing the upper cloud layer since April 2006. To date more than three hundred thousand images have been acquired. VEX has a highly elliptical orbit allowing for global as well as close up views with resolution down to 200 meter per pixel. The VMC is a CCD camera with four channels in the UV, visible and near IR, with centre wavelengths at 365, 513, 965 and 1010 nanometers respectively. The VMC UV wavelength corresponds to the spectral feature of a, so far unidentified, absorber. In particular this subset of the VMC data shows great variety of morphologies. On global scales these include equatorial belts, bright polar bands and polar caps. The observed small scale features change their appearance from mottled clouds and convective cells at low latitudes to streaky patterns at middle and high latitudes. Time sequences of global views have been used extensively to track clouds and hence to obtain wind speed vectors. 90 orbits were processed manually resulting in 50000 wind speed vectors. With a correlation algorithm we have to date obtained more than 400000 vectors. Many of the morphological features we see in UV channel are also visible in other wavelengths. As the VEX spacecraft comes closer to the planet we no longer monitor cloud motion and rather quickly fly over them. During this pericentre passage it is possible to make dayside mosaics of the clouds as well as night side mosaics of the surface. The pericentre passage allows for the highest resolution images. Some of the most interesting ones are found in the equatorial convective region. The scales of the cells go down to few tens of kilometers and are significantly smaller than observed previously. This may have implications for the thickness of the convective zone itself and hence provide clues for understanding the difficult problem of vertical transport of energy and momentum. In near polar regions, usually above 50º latitude, we see many waves. These are most likely gravity waves and are visible in all four VMC channels. By modeling phase dependence of brightness in the VMC data in all channels we can infer the physical properties of the upper clouds as well as the haze which in most cases lies above the clouds. In the seminar I will also discuss observations and analysis of the glory on the top of the clouds. These data are the first observations of a full glory outside of the Earth environment.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 28 February 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Penny Wozniakiewicz (Kent)
Title: Pre-accretional sorting of dust in the outer solar nebula
Abstract:
Despite their micrometer-scale dimensions and nanogram masses, chondritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs) are an important class of extraterrestrial material since their properties are consistent with a cometary origin and they do not show evidence of significant post-accretional parent body alteration. Consequently, they can provide information regarding the conditions and mechanisms operating in the comet forming region of the solar nebula. In this seminar I will present the results of our comparative studies of the sizes and size distributions of crystalline silicate and sulphide grains and GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulphides) in CP IDPs. Our data indicate that CP IDP components have been sorted prior to accretion and that the crystalline silicates and sulphides were sorted together. The GEMS, however, appear to have been sorted separately. These results and their implications will be discussed.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 7 February 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Jorge Vago (ESA)
Title: Searching for Life on Mars with the ExoMars Rover Mission
Abstract:
Based on what we knew about planetary evolution in the 1970’s, people took more or less for granted the pres-ence of simple life forms on other planets. The 1976 Viking landers can be considered the first missions with a serious chance of discovering signs of life on Mars. That the landers did not provide conclusive evidence was not due to a lack of careful preparation. In fact, these missions were remarkable in many ways, particularly tak-ing into account the technologies available at the time. If anything, the Viking results were a consequence of the manner in which the life questions were posed. The failure to detect organic molecules on Mars had an effect on all subsequent landed Mars missions, which thereafter focused mainly on geology.
In the mid 90’s a group of European investigators worked to define what they thought would be necessary to attack the search for life on Mars issue once again. Their recommendations gave rise to the ExoMars Pro-gramme. Today ExoMars is an international collaboration between ESA and Roscosmos to develop and launch two missions: the 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the 2018 ExoMars Rover. Even in case of bio-marker discoveries by these missions, confirmation of the results will require a more thorough analysis than what can be performed by remote robotic means. For this reason, the long-term goal of ESA’s Mars Explor-ation Programme remains an international Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, sometime during the second half of the next decade. The ExoMars missions provide a fundamental milestone for MSR, as they will contri-bute immensely to determining what types of samples to return.
The 2016 ExoMars TGO mission includes two elements: 1) an orbiting satellite devoted to the study of atmos-pheric trace gases, with the goal to acquire information on possible on-going geological or biological processes; and 2) a European Entry, Descent, and landing Demonstrator Module (EDM) to achieve a successful soft land-ing on Mars. The orbiter will also provide data communication services for all surface missions end 2022.
The 2018 ExoMars Rover mission will deliver a 300-kg-class rover to the surface of Mars using a landing sys-tem developed by Roscosmos. The rover mission will pursue one of the outstanding questions of our time by attempting to establish whether life ever existed, or is still active on Mars today. The rover will explore the landing site’s geological environment and conduct a search for signs of past and present life. The rover is equipped with a drill, allowing it to collect and analyse samples from outcrops and at depth, down to 2 m. The subsurface sampling capability is unique to this mission, providing the best chance to access and analyse well-preserved sedimentary deposits, possibly containing biomarkers.
This presentation will describe the current status of the ExoMars project. It will then present the ExoMars rover mission and describe how it builds on the results from NASA’s MER and MSL rovers.
Refreshments will be available from 2.00pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 31 January 2013 at 2.00pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Dr Susan Quinn (University College, Dublin)
Title: Ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy of DNA excited States
Abstract:
Ultra-violet excitation of DNA produces electronic excited states which have considerably short, femtosecond to picosecond, lifetimes and are dominated by non-radiative decay. Such ultra-short lifetimes are widely recognised as being responsible for the inherent photo-stability of DNA and are the subject of significant interest.1,2 But controversy has surrounded the nature of the excited states of DNA and results have often yielded conflicting conclusions regarding the role of exciplex/excimer states, charge-transfer (CT) states, excitons and localized versus delocalized species. However, transient vibrational spectroscopy provides a unique solution phase structural tool to characterize these various intermediates via infrared marker bands of particular excited states by directly probing the vibrational dynamics of relaxation processes.3
Interactions between bases in polymer systems are known to result in increased excited state lifetimes. We are interested in understanding the influence of (i) nucleic acid sequence composition and (ii) secondary structure present, on the excited states formed and their deactivation processes. To this end we have considered a variety of nucleic acid base systems and recently have focused our efforts on resolving a two key issues (1) the role of the long lived 1n,π* species in cytosine monophosphate containing systems and (2) understanding the role played by excited state charge transfer species in the deactivation of processes DNA.4 The results from these studies will be presented at the Seminar.
References
(1) Middleton, C. T.: de la Harpe, K.; Su, C.; Law, Y. K.; Crespo-Hernández, C. E.; Kohler, B. Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2009, 60, 217-239.
(2) Markovitsi, D.; Gustavsson, T.;Vayá, I. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1, 3271-3276.
(3) Towrie, M.; Doorley, G. W.; George, M. W,; Parker, A. W.; Quinn, S. J.; Kelly, J. M. Analyst, 2009, 134, 1265–1273.
(4) Keane, P. M., Wojdyla, M., Doorley, G. W., Watson, G. W., Clark, I. P., Greetham, G. M., Towrie, M., Parker, A.W., Kelly, J. M., Quinn, S. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 4212–4215; Keane, P. M., Wojdyla, M., Doorley, G. W., Clark, I. P., Greetham, G. M., Towrie, M., Parker, A.W., Kelly, J. M., Quinn, S. J. PCCP 2012, 14, 6307-11.
Refreshments will be available from 1.30pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 24 January 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Dr Laura Kerber (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Paris)
Title: Explosive Volcanism on Mercury
Abstract:
New data sent back from the MESSENGER mission have revealed the existence of pyroclastic deposits on the surface of Mercury. Nearly fifty deposits have already been discovered, with new discoveries still in progress. The large size of some of these deposits implies large amounts of volatile elements dissolved in the original magma: an unexpected result given most of the traditional, high-temperature scenarios proposed for Mercury’s formation. This seminar will give an overview of explosive volcanic deposits found thus far on Mercury: their global distribution, their compositions, and their implications for the volatile budget of Mercury.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 10 January 2013 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Damhnait Gleeson (Mars Scientist at Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA) Madrid, Spain)
Title: Macroscopic expressions of microscopic processes: approaching geobiological investigations from an orbital perspective
Abstract:
The expensive and incremental nature of planetary exploration provides major incentive to increase the return on mission investment. This can best be achieved by providing effective context to interpret the returned data. The development of a scale-integrated (orbital to micro-analytical) approach to exobiological investigations and the design of effective surface science in planetary environments are facilitated by investigation of terrestrial analogues and biosignatures, which can inform our view of how microbiological activities are tied to macroscopic mineral deposits. I will present data from satellite, field and laboratory studies carried out for terrestrial sites analogous to Europa and Mars.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Wednesday 19 December 2012 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Professor Paulo Limao Vieira (New University of Lisbon)
Title: Electron transfer to biomolecules in atom-molecule collisions: site- and bond-selective dissociation reactions
Abstract:
In this presentation I will show some of the current research achievements in the electron transfer process by atom-molecule collisions yielding negative ion formation. Recently, we have devoted special attention to the decomposition and reaction processes in biological relevant molecules, such as DNA subunits, desoxyribose, and simple aminoacids. In the unimolecular decomposition of the transient negative ion (TNI), fragmentation patterns obtained through TOF mass spectrometry show peculiar differences in comparison with dissociative electron attachment measurements. The most prominent features in the collision regime are the relative decrease of the dehydrogenated parent anion signal with respect to the hydrogen anion as the collision energy increases. For low collision energies this can be rationalized in terms of autodetachment inhibition, whereas at higher collisions energies the negative molecular ion can be formed with an excess of internal energy which might even result in fragmentation.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Thursday 13 December 2012 at 2.30pm
Where: Robert Hooke Seminar Room
Speaker: Professor Frances Westall (CNRS, Orleans)
Title: Terrestrial geology and the search for life on Mars
Abstract:
The future missions to Mars (MSL and ExoMars, if it eventually flies) will be searching for traces of ancient (and possibly present) life. They will be carrying instrumentation for characterizing the geological context, analyzing the mineral and elemental composition of the rocks, and observing at an almost microscopic scale. But how will they achieve this objective – can they even achieve it? Study of the oldest traces of life on Earth can provide us with knowledge and strategies that will help the search for life on Mars. I will document an approach to biosignature studies that passes through field geological analysis of the early Earth sedimentary environment to the precise measurement of biomolecules in ~3.5 billion year old fossilised microbes and the implications for the search for life on Mars.
Refreshments will be available from 2pm.
DPS/CEPSAR Seminar Series
When: Wednesday 5 December 2012 at 3pm
Where: Robert Hooke Building Seminar Room
Speaker: Jeff Price (University of East Anglia)
Overview of how to use ClimaScope
Abstract:
ClimaScope is a powerful and user-friendly web-based visualisation tool aimed at non-expert users, designed specifically with the objective of communication of climate-change information for adaptation work in developing countries, but also of relevance to policymakers in the developed world, amongst others. The climate change data come from a large numbers of climate models, or large numbers of emission scenarios, at relatively low bandwidth. ClimaScope is also a potentially useful tool for teaching and for research in areas related to climate change. Among the used coupled models there are also those developed in ERMITAGE, a FP7 EU project which started on December 2010 and with The Open University as co-ordinator. In this talk Jeff Price (UEA) will provide an overview on how to use ClimaScope at both the basic level, as well as more advanced uses and how to download the data.
For more information please visit ClimaScope.
Refreshments will be available from 2.30pm.