Water clouds discovered in space.

[Dryson]

The original paper is here:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04902
It doesn't seem unlikely that circulation between the ice, liquid, and vapour phases could be present.

Is WISE 0855 cool enough to possibly support life in the regions where the water vapor was discovered?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Water vapour is the gaseous phase. It's thought likely that liquid water with its polar nature and solvent properties and some way to extract energy from the environment (such as a proton gradient) are required for life to develop. I suppose that charge separation and water droplets are present in clouds but I don't know that it would be a stable enough environment for life to develop as compared to hydrothermal vents in an ocean.

 

[Dryson]

Water vapour is the gaseous phase. It's thought likely that liquid water with its polar nature and solvent properties and some way to extract energy from the environment (such as a proton gradient) are required for life to develop. I suppose that charge separation and water droplets are present in clouds but I don't know that it would be a stable enough environment for life to develop as compared to hydrothermal vents in an ocean.

I would have to think that an active core would also need to be present to create an electromagnetic field that would charge the particles in the upper atmosphere as well.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

UV or corpuscular radiation from the star would be required to create ionisation in the atmosphere. A planetary magnetic field wouldn't do this, although it could trap charged particles from the stellar wind that could.