The Dune saga, written by American author Frank Herbert, was transformed into cinema, an environmental message and even a hope in the search for habitable exoplanets, under the competent direction of Denis Villeneuve. In the plot, many characters try to turn the Arrakis desert into a green planet. the way some scientists think about Mars today.

In a recent paper published on the academic research site The Conversation, three researchers from Britain’s universities of Bristol and Sheffield used a computer-generated climate model to explore the habitable potential of Arrakis. The article concluded that Herbert’s world, created in 1965, was “extremely accurate and habitable, if not inhospitable.”

Flooded Arrakis with its original oceans

Arrakis, the unique origin of the “spice” that is the indispensable source of interstellar travel, was not always the arid desert seen in the stories. Dune lore swears that huge oceans once surrounded the planet until a mysterious environmental disaster started the process of desertification, which was then further intensified by sand trout eliminating all liquid water.

Using climate models, the authors flooded a significant portion of Arrakis and soon noticed a 4°C drop in the average temperature across the entire planet. The cooling has been attributed not only to increased atmospheric humidity but also to more snow and reflective cloud cover. An artificial method often proposed but never implemented to reduce global warming on Earth.

Like Earth’s oceans, the seas of Arrakis will emit chemical compounds containing halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine) that have the potential to cool the planet by depleting ozone (a greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere. With the addition of oceans, Arrakis became 86 times wetter. In this way, water scarcity is no longer a problem in terms of plant growth and ecosystem development.

Transformation of Arrakis into a habitable planet

Echoing that experienced on continental Britain surrounded by oceans, Arrakis’ climate also became more temperate, with extreme temperatures decreasing. This is because water takes longer to naturally heat or cool than land. The obvious conclusion is that the climate of the ocean planet is more stable than that of the desert world.

Although temperatures in its desert can exceed 70°C, Arrakis could theoretically host an ocean with a maximum temperature of around 45°C; This is enough to guarantee the planet’s habitability throughout the year, even during the summer months.

Climate stabilization would allow for a planet with permanently snowy and icy poles, as well as lush tropical forests and fertile arable land. On the other hand, the same volume and warm oceans may pose a risk to coastal areas: the formation of giant hurricanes.

A research laboratory for exoplanets

Arrakis, both desert and ocean, is more habitable than any known exoplanet.

The study of the habitability of Arrakis has some important implications for true exoplanet research. Currently we can only look for them in distant galaxies. Using powerful space telescopes to pick out those most similar to Earth in terms of size, temperature, presence of water, among other factors.

Understanding the unusual challenges presented by desert worlds like Arrakis could shed light on future habitability projects for Mars and planets beyond.

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Source: Tec Mundo

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I'm Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I've written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.

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