Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System
© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The TRAPPIST-1 system, consisting of an ultracool host star having seven known Earth-sized planets, will be a prime target for atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, the detectability of atmosp...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Astronomical Society
2021
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133783 |
| _version_ | 1811078935547478016 |
|---|---|
| author | Fauchez, Thomas J Turbet, Martin Villanueva, Geronimo L Wolf, Eric T Arney, Giada Kopparapu, Ravi K Lincowski, Andrew Mandell, Avi Wit, Julien de Pidhorodetska, Daria Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D Stevenson, Kevin B |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Fauchez, Thomas J Turbet, Martin Villanueva, Geronimo L Wolf, Eric T Arney, Giada Kopparapu, Ravi K Lincowski, Andrew Mandell, Avi Wit, Julien de Pidhorodetska, Daria Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D Stevenson, Kevin B |
| author_sort | Fauchez, Thomas J |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The TRAPPIST-1 system, consisting of an ultracool host star having seven known Earth-sized planets, will be a prime target for atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, the detectability of atmospheric molecular species may be severely impacted by the presence of clouds and/or hazes. In this work, we perform 3D general circulation model (GCM) simulations with the LMD-G model supplemented by 1D photochemistry simulations at the terminator with the Atmos model to simulate several possible atmospheres for TRAPPIST-1e, 1f, and 1g: (1) modern Earth, (2) Archean Earth, and (3) CO2-rich atmospheres. The JWST synthetic transit spectra were computed using the GSFC Planetary Spectrum Generator. We find that the TRAPPIST-1e, 1f, and 1g atmospheres, with clouds and/or hazes, could be detected using JWST's NIRSpec Prism from the CO2 absorption line at 4.3 μm in less than 15 transits at 3σ or less than 35 transits at 5σ. However, our analysis suggests that other gases would require hundreds (or thousands) of transits to be detectable. We also find that H2O, mostly confined in the lower atmosphere, is very challenging to detect for these planets or similar systems if the planets' atmospheres are not in a moist greenhouse state. This result demonstrates that the use of GCMs, self-consistently taking into account the effect of clouds and subsaturation, is crucial to evaluate the detectability of atmospheric molecules of interest, as well as for interpreting future detections in a more global (and thus robust and relevant) approach. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:07:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/133783 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:07:34Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Astronomical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1337832023-07-28T17:11:48Z Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System Fauchez, Thomas J Turbet, Martin Villanueva, Geronimo L Wolf, Eric T Arney, Giada Kopparapu, Ravi K Lincowski, Andrew Mandell, Avi Wit, Julien de Pidhorodetska, Daria Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D Stevenson, Kevin B Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. The TRAPPIST-1 system, consisting of an ultracool host star having seven known Earth-sized planets, will be a prime target for atmospheric characterization with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, the detectability of atmospheric molecular species may be severely impacted by the presence of clouds and/or hazes. In this work, we perform 3D general circulation model (GCM) simulations with the LMD-G model supplemented by 1D photochemistry simulations at the terminator with the Atmos model to simulate several possible atmospheres for TRAPPIST-1e, 1f, and 1g: (1) modern Earth, (2) Archean Earth, and (3) CO2-rich atmospheres. The JWST synthetic transit spectra were computed using the GSFC Planetary Spectrum Generator. We find that the TRAPPIST-1e, 1f, and 1g atmospheres, with clouds and/or hazes, could be detected using JWST's NIRSpec Prism from the CO2 absorption line at 4.3 μm in less than 15 transits at 3σ or less than 35 transits at 5σ. However, our analysis suggests that other gases would require hundreds (or thousands) of transits to be detectable. We also find that H2O, mostly confined in the lower atmosphere, is very challenging to detect for these planets or similar systems if the planets' atmospheres are not in a moist greenhouse state. This result demonstrates that the use of GCMs, self-consistently taking into account the effect of clouds and subsaturation, is crucial to evaluate the detectability of atmospheric molecules of interest, as well as for interpreting future detections in a more global (and thus robust and relevant) approach. 2021-10-27T19:56:38Z 2021-10-27T19:56:38Z 2019 2021-09-14T18:21:28Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133783 en 10.3847/1538-4357/AB5862 Astrophysical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society |
| spellingShingle | Fauchez, Thomas J Turbet, Martin Villanueva, Geronimo L Wolf, Eric T Arney, Giada Kopparapu, Ravi K Lincowski, Andrew Mandell, Avi Wit, Julien de Pidhorodetska, Daria Domagal-Goldman, Shawn D Stevenson, Kevin B Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title | Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title_full | Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title_fullStr | Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title_short | Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System |
| title_sort | impact of clouds and hazes on the simulated jwst transmission spectra of habitable zone planets in the trappist 1 system |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133783 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fauchezthomasj impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT turbetmartin impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT villanuevageronimol impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT wolferict impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT arneygiada impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT kopparapuravik impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT lincowskiandrew impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT mandellavi impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT witjuliende impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT pidhorodetskadaria impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT domagalgoldmanshawnd impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system AT stevensonkevinb impactofcloudsandhazesonthesimulatedjwsttransmissionspectraofhabitablezoneplanetsinthetrappist1system |