Paper: A Hazy View of Early Earth

A Hazy View of Early Earth
October 12th, 2009 in Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Haze in the early Earth atmosphere could have played a crucial role in the
origin of life. By forming a protective shield, the haze would have
safeguarded organic substances from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

?Knowing more about the atmospheric conditions right before life began to
develop could give researchers clues to how exactly life developed,? says H.
Langley DeWitt of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the
University of Colorado at Boulder.

Many scientists believe hazy conditions existed on early Earth, and DeWitt
is the lead scientist of a new study investigating the effects of this haze.
The paper detailing this study was published in the June edition of the
journal Astrobiology.

Haze is produced when sunlight comes in contact with certain gases in the
atmosphere. The types of aerosols formed through this photochemical reaction
depend on the specific composition of the atmosphere.

The amount and the composition of the haze would determine whether it
produced a warming or cooling effect for the planet. This new study shows
that the amount of haze on early Earth was inadequate to have the type of
cooling effect that scientists had previously predicted.

Tips from Titan

Scientists have looked to Titan, Saturn?s largest moon, to try to better
understand the organic haze that may have existed on early Earth. Titan has
a thick atmosphere containing 95 percent nitrogen, three percent methane and
two percent of hydrogen and other hydrocarbons, and an atmospheric pressure
about 1.6 times that of Earth. Titan is also the only planetary body other
than Earth with surface liquid (on Earth that surface liquid is water, while
on Titan the surface liquid is ethane and methane.)

In a 2006 NASA study, a group of researchers that included DeWitt replicated
the atmospheres of Titan and early Earth. They then compared the aerosols
produced in the laboratory to the haze observed in Titan?s atmosphere during
NASA?s Cassini mission. The group concluded that the two atmospheres were
similar.

But there was one troubling result. An important distinction between the
atmospheres of Titan and Earth is the carbon dioxide that is present in the
Earth?s atmosphere. The laboratory results in the 2006 study suggested that
the reaction of carbon dioxide and methane would produce more haze on early
Earth than the amount found on Titan. That implies that the Earth would have
been subjected to a large anti-greenhouse or cooling effect.

The current study puts that concern to rest. DeWitt and her colleagues did
additional laboratory experiments that expanded upon the 2006 study. They
added hydrogen to the atmospheric composition and found that it reduced
aerosol formation to the point where any potential anti-greenhouse effect
would be negligible.



Mixing It Up
DeWitt?s team also looked at how varying quantities of the three main
substances?hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide?may have affected the haze
that formed on Earth billions of years ago.

?Many models calculate the amount of haze that would be present at the
different ratios of these chemicals,? DeWitt explains. ?However, the models
don?t always include experimental data in their calculations and instead use
assumptions about the chemistry.?

The new study used a simplified version of an atmospheric model to examine
two scenarios. One mixture contained high quantities of hydrogen and carbon
dioxide with low amounts of methane. In the second simulation, the team
analyzed the effects of hydrogen in a mixture that contained high amounts of
methane. After the gas mixtures were exposed to UV radiation, the scientists
measured the aerosols that were formed.

Their findings showed that an increase in hydrogen levels reduced the haze
formation rate. They also concluded that the amount of hydrogen present in
the early Earth atmosphere most likely resulted in warmer surface
temperatures.

?If an organic haze did form on early Earth, the consequences of its
presence beg all sorts of interesting questions,? says co-author Christa
Hasenkopf of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental
Sciences, also at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

A question for astrobiologists is what role haze would have played in the
formation of life. The scientists stated that the aerosols produced on early
Earth provided a major source of organic substances to the Earth?s surface.
Scientists think these organics played an important role in the origin of
life on our planet. Understanding the characteristics of haze that make a
planet?s surface ripe for organic material could be immensely helpful in the
quest for life on other planetary bodies.

Hasenkopf says some scientists believe that the early Earth atmosphere was
?virtually oxygen-free when life first formed.? That allows astrobiologists
to think more broadly about what types of environments on other planets
could possibly support life.

?We only know of one place in the entire universe that life was able to
initially form and develop, and that was on the early Earth,? says
Hasenkopf. ?The climactic conditions on early Earth provide clues to our own
origins.?

Calculating Climate

Scientists don?t know enough about our planet?s environment approximately
four billion years ago to be able to precisely mimic the atmospheric
conditions back then. The laboratory re-creation of early Earth therefore
was based on many assumptions.

The study model used simplified calculations for determining surface
temperature, and the chemical reactions were based on shorter reaction times
than what would have occurred under actual conditions. Additionally, the
researchers only focused on three gases: methane, carbon dioxide and
hydrogen. While these are believed to be the major constituents of the early
Earth atmosphere, there could have been other components, such as sulfur
dioxide, which were not taken into account in this study. Still, DeWitt says
their study could improve the accuracy of models that predict chemical
reactions in the atmosphere.

Hasenkopf says the findings also can contribute to the understanding of the
current effects of climate change.

Some scientists believe that the early Earth atmosphere contained higher
levels of carbon dioxide and methane than current atmospheric levels.
Hasenkopf explains that the interaction between the gases that produce
greenhouse warming and the haze that brings about the anti-greenhouse
cooling is similar to the present-day emissions caused by human activity.

?On one hand, humans emit greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, causing
warming,? Hasenkopf says. ?Yet humans also emit large amounts of particulate
pollution, which may have a net cooling effect, similar to the early Earth
haze.?

Source: Astrobio.net, by Anuradha K. Herath
http://www.physorg.com/news174587577.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek


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