The Many-faceted Role of Water in Planetary Habitability

Water is everywhere. It’s two elements are the first and third most abundant elements in the universe. It is made in abundance in many environments and finds its way into planets of all shapes and sizes, where it modifies the properties of everything it touches. Water is crucial to life, both as a habitat and as a solvent. But it also has many other roles in the evolution of habitable and uninhabitable environments on a planetary scale. In this talk, Dr. Schaefer will discuss the ways in which Earth acquired its water, how water modifies the evolution and habitability of the Earth, and how the habitability of rocky exoplanets may differ.

Speaker: Laura Schaefer, Stanford University