Laura Schaefer

I study atmosphere-interior exchange on rocky planets, both within our Solar System and beyond. I'm interested in the initial outgassed atmospheres of rocky planets and their evolution with time due to external factors and due to interaction with the solid planet. During planet formation, all the materials that make a planet are intimately mixed together, so the physical and chemical processes of accretion and differentiation can have long term effects on the composition of both the atmosphere and the interior. I study these early processes using a combination of magma ocean, atmospheric and internal structure models. The presence of extant magma oceans on some hot rocky exoplanets provide a window into the early planet differentiation processes of the Solar System.

In the Solar System, I have particular interest in understanding the atmospheric evolution of Venus and Jupiter's moon Io, which both may have experienced significant volatile loss, likely through very different mechanisms. These planets are excellent proxies for the rocky exoplanets that will be observable in the near-term with new telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope.

I am also interested in understanding the conditions of early atmospheric formation that may help or hinder the origins of life both within the Solar System and on exoplanets. Long-term interactions of atmosphere and interior will also influence the stability of habitable conditions on rocky exoplanets and are therefore vital to understand as astronomical observations of these planets become more feasible.