From Earth to Rocky Exoplanets and back

Our galaxy is full of Earth-sized, potentially Earth-like, planets, yet we still barely know what these planets are actually like. I will use several examples to show how the rapid exploration of exoplanets offers unique opportunities for Earth Science, and how exoplanets are in turn helping us better understand Earth. Examples include how potential intensity theory from tropical meteorology played a key role in interpreting the first temperature map of a nearby super-Earth, how similar measurements promise to tell us whether the average Earth-sized exoplanet in our galaxy is an airless bare rock (like Mercury), and how Earth's persistently-linear radiative balance shapes our planet's future under global warming.

Speaker: Daniel Koll, Peking University