Atmospheric O2 from astronomical data

TL;DR

This paper explores using high-resolution stellar spectra to accurately reconstruct historical atmospheric O2 levels, aiming to improve environmental monitoring and understanding of oxygen's role in climate variability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel astronomical spectroscopic method for monitoring atmospheric O2 depletion using telluric lines in stellar spectra, including medium and low resolution data.

Findings

Potential for high-precision O2 measurements from stellar spectra

Feasibility of using various spectral resolutions for atmospheric O2 analysis

Advancement in long-term atmospheric O2 monitoring techniques

Abstract

Environmental research aimed at monitoring and predicting O2 depletion is still lacking or in need of improvement, in spite of many attempts to find a relation between atmospheric gas content and climate variability. The aim of the present project is to determine accurate historical sequences of the atmospheric O2 depletion by using the telluric lines present in stellar spectra. A better understanding of the role of oxygen in atmospheric thermal equilibrium may become possible if high-resolution spectroscopic observations are carried out for different airmasses, in different seasons, for different places, and if variations are monitored year by year. The astronomical spectroscopic technique involves mainly the investigation of the absorption features in high-resolution stellar spectra, but we are also considering whether accurate measures of the atmospheric O2 abundances can be obtained from medium and low resolution stellar spectra.