Join us for our inaugural alumni event hosted by the Sub-department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP)
Afternoon of AOPP
Hosted by Professor Myles Allen (Head of AOPP) with guest speakers, followed by refreshments and a chance to meet the speakers and old friends (and make new ones!).
Speaker: Dr Carly Howett
Title: Life on Jupiter’s Moon Europa?
Abstract: Whether life exists beyond Earth and where it might be found is one of humanity’s oldest questions. While places the ancients suspected to be habitable, like the “seas” on our Moon or the “canals” on Mars, have been shown not to host alien life, alternatives have been discovered. Currently the most habitable place for life outside of the Earth is predicted to be the sub-surface oceans present on some of the moons near our gas and ice giant planets. While these deep liquid water oceans lack sunlight, they receive energy from their tidally-heated interior below them, and nutrients from the convecting surface ice above them. So perhaps, just like black smokers deep in Earth’s ocean, life can exist in these extreme environments.
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is such an ocean world with more liquid water than Earth, making it arguably one of the best habitability candidates in our solar system. Two spacecraft are currently en route to the Jupiter system: NASA’s Europa Clipper (which will focus on Europa science) and ESA’s Juice mission (which will focus on Europa’s sister moon, Ganymede). In this talk, we will discuss Europa’s habitability, how Europa Clipper and Juice will explore Europa, and how we hope the results will move us closer to answering humanity’s question from antiquity: Are we alone?
Speaker: Professor Tim Palmer FRS
Title: The D-Day Weather Forecasts
Abstract: The flap of a butterfly’s wings can change not only the weather, but also the course of history. Here we discuss how the WW2 D-Day invasion of Europe would have failed but for a single weather observation made from Blacksod Bay on the NW coast of Ireland (leading to the postponement of D Day by a day). In particular, if assistant post mistress Maureen Flaven hadn’t got up in the middle of the night to read the barometer, having been at the pub the evening before celebrating her birthday, post WW2 history would have been utterly different.