This project, with a grant from the NASA Exobiology Program, aims to develop models that can predict the longevity of planetary oceans from the initial conditions of size, composition, and orbital distance from a star. It aims to find standard evolutionary tracks that terrestrial planet oceans are likely to follow as consequences of stellar, internal geological and climate evolution.
A successful model should predict the current climate states of Venus, Earth, and Mars and shed light on how these local examples of planetary evolution fit into the large range of possible terrestrial planets in the galaxy. This work will enhance the ability to assess the frequency of habitable planets in the galaxy.
