A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds
Clouds are ubiquitous: they arise for every solar system planet that possesses an atmosphere and have also been suggested as a leading mechanism for obscuring spectral features in exoplanet observations. As exoplanet observations continue to improve, there is a need for efficient and general planeta...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Planetary Science Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/acbf2d |
| _version_ | 1797328489952575488 |
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| author | James D. Windsor Tyler D. Robinson Ravi kumar Kopparapu Amber V. Young David E. Trilling Joe LLama |
| author_facet | James D. Windsor Tyler D. Robinson Ravi kumar Kopparapu Amber V. Young David E. Trilling Joe LLama |
| author_sort | James D. Windsor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Clouds are ubiquitous: they arise for every solar system planet that possesses an atmosphere and have also been suggested as a leading mechanism for obscuring spectral features in exoplanet observations. As exoplanet observations continue to improve, there is a need for efficient and general planetary climate models that appropriately handle the possible cloudy atmospheric environments that arise on these worlds. We generate a new 1D radiative-convective terrestrial planet climate model that self-consistently handles patchy clouds through a parameterized microphysical treatment of condensation and sedimentation processes. Our model is general enough to recreate Earth’s atmospheric radiative environment without overparameterization, while also maintaining a simple implementation that is applicable to a wide range of atmospheric compositions and physical planetary properties. We first validate this new 1D patchy-cloud radiative-convective climate model by comparing it to Earth thermal structure data and to existing climate and radiative-transfer tools. We produce partially clouded Earth-like climates with cloud structures that are representative of deep tropospheric convection and are adequate 1D representations of clouds within rocky planet atmospheres. After validation against Earth, we then use our partially clouded climate model and explore the potential climates of super-Earth exoplanets with secondary nitrogen-dominated atmospheres which we assume are abiotic. We also couple the partially clouded climate model to a full-physics, line-by-line radiative-transfer model and generate high-resolution spectra of simulated climates. These self-consistent climate-to-spectral models bridge the gap between climate modeling efforts and observational studies of rocky worlds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:52:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f305da2feede46fd823d6c51a88eed03 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2632-3338 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T06:52:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Planetary Science Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-f305da2feede46fd823d6c51a88eed032024-02-03T06:46:46ZengIOP PublishingThe Planetary Science Journal2632-33382023-01-01459410.3847/PSJ/acbf2dA Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy CloudsJames D. Windsor0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8522-3788Tyler D. Robinson1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3196-414XRavi kumar Kopparapu2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5893-2471Amber V. Young3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3099-1506David E. Trilling4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4580-3790Joe LLama5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4450-0368Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; jdw472@nau.edu; Habitability, Atmospheres, and Biosignatures Laboratory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington , Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; jdw472@nau.edu; Habitability, Atmospheres, and Biosignatures Laboratory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington , Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; jdw472@nau.edu; Habitability, Atmospheres, and Biosignatures Laboratory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington , Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195, USADepartment of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA ; jdw472@nau.eduLowell Observatory , 1400 W. Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USAClouds are ubiquitous: they arise for every solar system planet that possesses an atmosphere and have also been suggested as a leading mechanism for obscuring spectral features in exoplanet observations. As exoplanet observations continue to improve, there is a need for efficient and general planetary climate models that appropriately handle the possible cloudy atmospheric environments that arise on these worlds. We generate a new 1D radiative-convective terrestrial planet climate model that self-consistently handles patchy clouds through a parameterized microphysical treatment of condensation and sedimentation processes. Our model is general enough to recreate Earth’s atmospheric radiative environment without overparameterization, while also maintaining a simple implementation that is applicable to a wide range of atmospheric compositions and physical planetary properties. We first validate this new 1D patchy-cloud radiative-convective climate model by comparing it to Earth thermal structure data and to existing climate and radiative-transfer tools. We produce partially clouded Earth-like climates with cloud structures that are representative of deep tropospheric convection and are adequate 1D representations of clouds within rocky planet atmospheres. After validation against Earth, we then use our partially clouded climate model and explore the potential climates of super-Earth exoplanets with secondary nitrogen-dominated atmospheres which we assume are abiotic. We also couple the partially clouded climate model to a full-physics, line-by-line radiative-transfer model and generate high-resolution spectra of simulated climates. These self-consistent climate-to-spectral models bridge the gap between climate modeling efforts and observational studies of rocky worlds.https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/acbf2dExoplanet atmospheresExoplanet atmospheric compositionExoplanet atmospheric dynamicsExoplanet atmospheric evolutionExoplanet atmospheric structurePlanetary atmospheres |
| spellingShingle | James D. Windsor Tyler D. Robinson Ravi kumar Kopparapu Amber V. Young David E. Trilling Joe LLama A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds The Planetary Science Journal Exoplanet atmospheres Exoplanet atmospheric composition Exoplanet atmospheric dynamics Exoplanet atmospheric evolution Exoplanet atmospheric structure Planetary atmospheres |
| title | A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds |
| title_full | A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds |
| title_fullStr | A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds |
| title_short | A Radiative-convective Model for Terrestrial Planets with Self-consistent Patchy Clouds |
| title_sort | radiative convective model for terrestrial planets with self consistent patchy clouds |
| topic | Exoplanet atmospheres Exoplanet atmospheric composition Exoplanet atmospheric dynamics Exoplanet atmospheric evolution Exoplanet atmospheric structure Planetary atmospheres |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/acbf2d |
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