HR: 1340h
AN: SA53B-1177    [Abstracts]
TI: Detectability of Red-Edge Shifted Vegetation on M-star Terrestrial Planets
AU: * Tinetti, G
EM: tinetti@ipac.caltech.edu
AF: NASA Astrobiology Institute/Caltech, Caltech, MS 220-6 1200 E. California, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Rashby, S
EM: sky@caltech.edu
AF: Caltech, Caltech-GPS 1200 E. California, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AU: Yung, Y
EM: yly@gps.caltech.edu
AF: Caltech, Caltech-GPS 1200 E. California, Pasadena, CA 91125 United States
AB: We have explored the detectability of exo-vegetation on the surface of a terrestrial planet orbiting a M-star. The exo-vegetation is responsible for producing a red-edge like signature that is red-shifted with respect to the Earth vegetation red-edge. The red-shift was estimated using a model of leaf optical properties spectra (Jacquemoud, 1990) combined with a three photon photosynthetic scheme calculated by Wolstencroft and Raven (2002) for possible exo-vegetation growing on a M-star planet. To study the detectability of this surface biosignature on a M-star terrestrial planet, we have used the 3-D model developed by Tinetti et al. (2005) for the case of the Earth. This model can generate disk-averaged spectra and broad-band integrated fluxes, useful to future terrestrial planet exploration missions, such as NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder-Coronograph. Input to this model, were the atmospheric profiles and cloud distributions predicted by Joshi (2003) for a synchronous planet orbiting a M-star and the distinctive surface reflectance of the exo-vegetation. Finally, we discuss here the sensitivity of Earth tuned indicator of vegetation, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), to these new exotic scenarios.
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
DE: 5210 Planetary atmospheres, clouds, and hazes (0343)
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005