Related papers: Convection in Condensible-rich Atmospheres
Recent structure models of Jupiter suggest the existence of an extended region in the deep interior with a high heavy element abundance, referred to as a dilute core. This finding has led to increased interest in modelling the formation and…
The zonal winds on the surfaces of giant planets vary with latitude. Jupiter and Saturn, for example, have several bands of alternating eastward (prograde) and westward (retrograde) jets relative to the angular velocity of their global…
Atmosphere escape is one key process controlling the evolution of planets. However, estimating the escape rate in any detail is difficult because there are many physical processes contributing to the total escape rate. Here we show that as…
Despite major advances in climate science over the last 30 years, persistent uncertainties in projections of future climate change remain. Climate projections are produced with increasingly complex models which attempt to represent key…
The ultimate climate emergency is a "runaway greenhouse": a hot and water vapour rich atmosphere limits the emission of thermal radiation to space, causing runaway warming. Warming ceases only once the surface reaches ~1400K and emits…
Numerical simulation of rotating convection in plane layers with free slip boundaries show that the convective flows can be classified according to a quantity constructed from the Reynolds, Prandtl and Ekman numbers. Three different flow…
Uranus provides a unique laboratory to test our understanding of planetary atmospheres under extreme conditions. Multi-spectral observations from Voyager, ground-based observatories, and space telescopes have revealed a delicately banded…
Understanding processes that determine the global circulation of the atmosphere is necessary for long-term weather forecasting and climate studies which are critical for ensuring energy security. Processes in the atmosphere depend on many…
A model is developed for the transport of heat and solute in a system of double-diffusive layers under astrophysical conditions (viscosity and solute diffusivity low compared with the thermal diffusivity). The process of formation of the…
Most models of volatile delivery to accreting terrestrial planets assume that the carriers for water are similar in water content to the carbonaceous chondrites in our Solar System. Here we suggest that the water content of primitive bodies…
We simulate numerically convection in a rectangular cell filled with an ideal gas rotating about an axis perpendicular to the direction of gravity. This configuration corresponds to an experiment with a convection cell placed in a rapidly…
In recent years, space missions such as Kepler and TESS have discovered many close-in planets with significant atmospheres consisting of hydrogen and helium: mini-Neptunes. This indicates that these planets formed early in gas-rich disks…
The linear cosmological perturbation theory of an almost homogeneous and isotropic perfect fluid universe is reconsidered and formally simplified by introducing new covariant and gauge-invariant variables with physical interpretations on…
Venus's past climate evolution is uncertain. General circulation model simulations permit a habitable climate as late as ~0.7 Ga, and there is suggestive-albeit inconclusive-evidence for previous liquid water from surface geomorphology and…
We study the dynamical regimes of a density-stratified fluid confined between isothermal no-slip top and bottom boundaries (at temperatures $T_t$ and $T_b$) via direct numerical simulation. The thermal expansion coefficient of the fluid is…
Moist convection plays a leading role in the dynamics and energy budget of Earth's tropics and influences the sensitivity of Earth's climate to greenhouse gas increases. Because individual convective cells are much smaller than the…
The current search for habitable planets has focused on Earth-like conditions of mass, volatile content and orbit. However, rocky planets following eccentric orbits, and drier than the Earth, may be a more common phenomenon in the Universe.…
The goal of this paper is to explore the potential multistability of the climate of a planet around the habitable zone. A thorough investigation of the thermodynamics of the climate system is performed for very diverse conditions of energy…
We survey the basic principles of atmospheric dynamics relevant to explaining existing and future observations of exoplanets, both gas giant and terrestrial. Given the paucity of data on exoplanet atmospheres, our approach is to emphasize…
Convection in astrophysical systems must be maintained against dissipation. Although the effects of dissipation are often assumed to be negligible, theory suggests that in strongly stratified convecting fluids, the dissipative heating rate…