Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters
Abstract
Observations of hot-Jupiter atmospheres show large variations in the location of the hot spot and the amplitude of spectral features. Atmospheric flow simulations using the commonly-employed forcing and initialization have generally produced a large, monolithic patch of stationary hot area located eastward of the substellar point at MPa pressure level. Here we perform high-resolution (up to T682) pseudospectral simulations that accurately capture small-scale eddies and waves, inherent in hot-Jupiter atmospheres due to ageostrophy. The atmospheres contain a large number of intense storms over a wide range of scales, including the planetary-scale. The latter sized storms dictate the large-scale spatial distribution and temporal variability of hot, as well as cold, regions over the planet. In addition, the large storms exhibit quasi-periodic life cycles within multiple equilibrium states -- all identifiable in the disk-integrated time series of the temperature flux.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2105.12759,
title = {Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters},
author = {J. Y-K. Cho and J. W. Skinner and H. Th. Thrastarson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.12759},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters