In the next 10–20 years, several observatories will aim to detect the signatures of oxygenic photosynthesis on exoplanets, though targets must be carefully selected. Most known potentially habitable exo-planets orbit cool M-dwarf stars, which have limited emission in the photosynthetically active region of the spectrum (PAR, $$400< \lambda < 700$$ 400 < λ < 700 nm) used by Earth’s oxygenic photoautotrophs. Still, recent experi...

Surface waves traversing polar marginal ice zones (MIZs) generate a boundary layer immediately below the ice, similar in some respects to the wave boundary layer created at the seabed in shallow water. The wave–ice boundary layer has not yet been thoroughly measured, but it can significantly affect wave attenuation rates. In December 2021, we conducted a laboratory experiment designed to measure such a boundary layer and the a...