ICAR - Alternative Earths – How to Build and Sustain a Detectable Biosphere

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. This specific opportunity focuses on a fundamental question: How do ocean chemistry and solid planetary processes lead to sustained habitability and the maintenance of detectable atmospheric biosignatures? The research views stages of Earth's history over its initial four billion years as 'alternative Earths,' providing unique windows onto the evolution of our planet and factors that regulate the evolution of planetary habitability and the appearance, persistence, and detectability of atmospheric biosignatures on habitable worlds. The interdisciplinary team brings together expertise across Earth system science, marine biogeochemistry, microbial ecology, climate modeling, and observational astronomy. The research employs cutting-edge geochemical proxies, 3-D models for ocean biogeochemistry, coupled climate and photochemical models, and exploration of remote detectability using instrument simulators. These one- to three-year competitive fellowships are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.