2002/06/18 by L. Arnold, S. Gillet, Olivier Lardière +6 · 5 citations
Environmental Science · Mathematics · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Albedo (alchemy) #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Atmosphere (unit) #Atmospheric sciences #Biology #Exoplanet #Geography #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Mathematics #Medicine #Meteorology #Optics #Physics #Planet #Planetary Science and Exploration #Red edge #Reflectivity #Remote sensing #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Signature (topology) #Spectral line #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Terrestrial planet #Vegetation (pathology) #Water vapor #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20020933
7 pages, 7 figures. A&A, accepted 6 May 2002
arxiv created 2002/06/18 · openalex publication_date 2002/06/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report spectroscopic observations (400 to 800nm, R = approx 100) of Earthshine in June, July and October 2001 from which normalised Earth albedo spectra have been derived. The resulting spectra clearly show the blue colour of the Earth due to Rayleigh diffusion in its atmosphere. They also show the signatures of oxygen, ozone and water vapour. We tried to extract from these spectra the signature of Earth vegetation. A variable signal (4 to 10 +/-3%) around 700nm has been measured in the Earth albedo. It is interpreted as being due to the vegetation red edge, expected to be between 2 to 10% of the Earth albedo at 700nm, depending on models. We discuss the primary goal of the present observations: their application to the detection of vegetation-like biosignatures on extrasolar planets.