Join the School of the Environment for this week’s Seminar featuring Sanjoy Som from NASA, Ames.
He will be presenting on, “Forget umbrellas: a rainfall 2.7 billion years ago reveals surprising insights about the early Earth atmosphere”
We calculate the air density 2.7 billion years ago by measuring fossil raindrop imprints. The thicker the air, the more slowly raindrops fall and the smaller the imprints become. The converse is true. Atmospheric density is obtained by coupling experiments of falling raindrops with theoretical predictions of raindrop dynamics. We find that atmospheric density was at most 2x present levels, but rainfall statistics favor an air density more probably between 0.5x – 1.05x present levels.
He will present TODAY, April 24, from 12-1p.m. in Webster 16.
All are welcome!