ExoClimes – Frédéric Pont

Planetary atmospheres are complex and evolving entities, as mankind is rapidly coming to realise whilst attempting to understand, forecast and mitigate human-induced climate change. In the Solar System, our neighbours Venus and Mars provide striking examples of two endpoints of planetary evolution: the runaway greenhouse effect and the loss of the entire atmosphere to space.

The variety of planets beyond our Solar System (exoplanets) is even more extraordinary: from scorching ‘hot jupiters” to ocean worlds, exo-atmospheres exist in configurations unknown in the Solar System – such as iron clouds, silicate rains, extreme plate tectonics, and steam volcanoes. Exoplanetary atmospheres have recently become accessible to observations.

This book puts our own climate in the wider context of the trials and tribulations of planetary atmospheres. Based on cutting-edge research, it uses a grand tour of the atmospheres of other planet to shine a new light on our own atmosphere, and its relation with life.

The scientific content of the book is inspired from the invited reviews of the ExoClimes conference, held in Exeter, UK in September 2010, organised by the author.