Related papers: Baroclinic Instability on Hot Extrasolar Planets
The macroturbulent atmospheric circulation of Earth-like planets mediates their equator-to-pole heat transport. For fast-rotating terrestrial planets, baroclinic instabilities in the mid-latitudes lead to turbulent eddies that act to…
We compare five general circulation models (GCMs) which have been recently used to study hot extrasolar planet atmospheres (BOB, CAM, IGCM, MITgcm, and PEQMOD), under three test cases useful for assessing model convergence and accuracy.…
Global Circulation Models (GCMs) of atmospheric flows are now routinely used to interpret observational data on Hot Jupiters. Localized "equatorial $\beta$-plane" simulations by Fromang et al. (2016) have revealed that a barotropic…
Results from the laboratory experiments on the evolution of baroclinically unstable flows generated in a rotating tank with topographic beta-effect are presented. We study zonal jets of alternating direction which occur in these flows. The…
We present results from a set of over 300 pseudospectral simulations of atmospheric circulation on extrasolar giant planets with circular orbits. The simulations are of high enough resolution (up to 341 total and sectoral modes) to resolve…
The regimes of possible global atmospheric circulation patterns in an Earth-like atmosphere are explored using a simplified GCM based on the University of Hamburg's Portable University Model for the Atmosphere with simplified (linear)…
Surfaces of constant pressure and constant density do not coincide in differentially rotating stars. Stellar radiation zones with baroclinic stratification can be unstable. Instabilities in radiation zones are of crucial importance for…
The giant planet atmospheres exhibit alternating prograde (eastward) and retrograde (westward) jets of different speeds and widths, with an equatorial jet that is prograde on Jupiter and Saturn and retrograde on Uranus and Neptune. The jets…
The onset of convection in a rapidly rotating layer in which a thermal wind is present is studied. Diffusive effects are included. The main motivation is from convection in planetary interiors, where thermal winds are expected due to…
Instabilities and strong dynamical interactions between multiple giant planets have been proposed as a possible explanation for the surprising orbital properties of extrasolar planetary systems. In particular, dynamical instabilities seem…
The observed wide eccentricity distribution of extrasolar giant planets is thought to be the result of dynamical instabilities and gravitational scattering among planets. Previously, it has been assumed that the orbits in giant planet…
Remote observing of exoplanetary atmospheres is now possible, offering us access to circulation regimes unlike any of the familiar Solar System cases. Atmospheric circulation models are being developed to study these new regimes but model…
A linear analysis of baroclinic instability in a stellar radiation zone with radial differential rotation is performed. The instability onsets at a very small rotation inhomogeneity. There are two families of unstable disturbances…
We consider the nonlinear evolution of an unstable baroclinic wave in a regime of rotating stratified flow that is of relevance to interior circulation in the oceans and in the atmosphere---a regime characterized by small large-scale Rossby…
Hot Jupiters are Jupiter-sized exoplanets with close-in orbits, characterized by extreme day-night temperature contrasts due to synchronous rotation. These planets offer unique observational opportunities through transit photometry,…
We use a general circulation model to study the three-dimensional (3-D) flow and temperature distributions of atmospheres on tidally synchronized extrasolar planets. In this work, we focus on the sensitivity of the evolution to the initial…
Exploring diverse planetary atmospheres requires modeling tools that are both accurate and flexible. Here, we develop a three-dimensional general circulation model (3D GCM) that for the first time uses a line-by-line approach to describe…
Relatively long-period nonsynchronized planets---such as warm Jupiters---potentially retain the primordial rotation, eccentricity, and obliquity that might encapsulate information on planetary climate and formation processes. To date, there…
Using a 3D general circulation model, we demonstrate that a confirmed rocky exoplanet and a primary observational target, TRAPPIST-1e presents an interesting case of climate bistability. We find that the atmospheric circulation on…
A new element is proposed to play a role in the evolution of extrasolar planetary systems: the tidal (or elliptical) instability. It comes from a parametric resonance and takes place in any rotating fluid whose streamlines are (even…