606016 external_news 1525887966 1525888022 The hunt for life outside Earth will begin with a search for biological products in their atmospheres. These atmospheric fingerprints of life, called biosignatures, will be detected using next-generation telescopes that measure the composition of gases surrounding planets that are light years away. It’s a tricky business, because biosignatures based on single measurements could be misleading. To complement these markers, and thanks to funding from the NASA Astrobiology Institute, scientists are developing the first quantitative framework for dynamic biosignatures based on seasonal changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. Titled “Atmospheric Seasonality As An Exoplanet Biosignature,” a paper describing the research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Among the authors is School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Assistant Professor Chris Reinhard.

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