Related papers: Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Ho…
We investigate modons on tidally synchronised extrasolar planets. Modons are highly dynamic, coherent flow structures composed of a pair of storms with opposite signs of vorticity. They are important because they divert flows on the…
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.…
Jets are observed to stir up multi-phase turbulence in the inter-stellar medium as well as far beyond the host galaxy. Here we present detailed simulations of this process. We evolve the hydrodynamics equations with optically thin cooling…
Many of the known extrasolar planets are ``hot Jupiters,'' giant planets with orbital periods of just a few days. We use the observed distribution of hot Jupiters to constrain the location of its inner edge in the mass--period diagram. If…
Hot super-Earths likely possess minimal atmospheres established through vapor saturation equilibrium with the ground. We solve the hydrodynamics of these tenuous atmospheres at the surface of Corot-7b, Kepler 10b and 55 Cnc-e, including…
The polar regions of Jupiter host a myriad of dynamically interesting phenomena including vortex configurations, folded-filamentary regions (FFRs), and chaotic flows. Juno observations have provided unprecedented views of the high…
Turbulent vertical transport driven by double-diffusive shear instabilities is identified as likely important in hot exoplanet atmospheres. In hot Jupiter atmospheres, the resulting vertical mixing appears sufficient to alleviate the…
Over the past decade, observations of giant exoplanets (Jupiter-size) have provided key insights into their atmospheres, but the properties of lower-mass exoplanets (sub-Neptune) remain largely unconstrained because of the challenges of…
The formation of the solar system's giant planets predated the ultimate epoch of massive impacts that concluded the process of terrestrial planet formation. Following their formation, the giant planets' orbits evolved through an episode of…
Three-dimensional (3-D) dynamical models of hot Jupiter atmospheres predict very strong wind speeds. For tidally locked hot Jupiters, winds at high altitude in the planet's atmosphere advect heat from the day side to the cooler night side…
Improving upon our purely dynamical work, we present three-dimensional simulations of the atmospheric circulation on Earth-like (exo)planets and hot Jupiters using the GFDL-Princeton Flexible Modeling System (FMS). As the first steps away…
We present significant differences in the simulated atmospheric flow for warm, tidally-locked small Neptunes and super Earths (based on a nominal GJ 1214b) when solving the simplified, and commonly used, primitive dynamical equations or the…
For solar-system objects, ultraviolet spectroscopy has been critical in identifying sources for stratospheric heating and measuring the abundances of a variety of hydrocarbon and sulfur-bearing species, produced via photochemical…
A self-consistent, aeronomic model of the upper atmosphere of a "hot Jupiter" including reactions involving suprathermal photoelectrons is presented. This model is used to compute the height profiles of the gas density, velocity, and…
Recent studies have shown that large exomoons can form in the accretion disks around super-Jovian extrasolar planets. These planets are abundant at about 1 AU from Sun-like stars, which makes their putative moons interesting for studies of…
The zonal-mean atmospheric flow of an idealized terrestrial planet is analyzed using both numerical simulations and zonally symmetric theories, focusing largely on the limit of low planetary rotation rate. Two versions of a zonally…
Photochemical hazes are expected to form in hot Jupiter atmospheres and may explain the strong scattering slopes and muted spectral features observed in the transmission spectra of many hot Jupiters. Absorption and scattering by…
Since the 1950s, quasi-periodic oscillations have been studied in the terrestrial equatorial stratosphere. Other planets of the solar system present (or are expected to present) such oscillations, like the Jupiter Equatorial…
All theories that attempt to explain the heating of the high temperature plasma observed in the solar corona are based on short bursts of energy. The intensities and velocities measured in the cores of quiescent active regions, however, can…
Since the first discovery of an extrasolar planetary system more than a decade ago, hundreds more have been discovered. Surprisingly, many of these systems harbor Jupiter-class gas giants located close to the central star, at distances of…