Context. Hubble
Space Telescope (HST) spectroscopic transit observations of the temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b were interpreted as the presence of water vapour with potential water clouds. 1D modelling ...studies also predict the formation of water clouds in K2-18b’s atmosphere in some conditions. However, such models cannot predict the cloud cover, which is driven by atmospheric dynamics and thermal contrasts, and thus neither can they predict the real impact of clouds on spectra.
Aims.
The main goal of this study is to understand the formation, distribution, and observational consequences of water clouds on K2-18b and other temperate sub-Neptunes.
Methods.
We simulated the atmospheric dynamics, water cloud formation, and spectra of K2-18b for a H
2
-dominated atmosphere using a 3D general circulation model. We analysed the impact of atmospheric composition (with metallicity from 1× solar to 1000× solar), concentration of cloud condensation nuclei, and planetary rotation rate.
Results.
Assuming that K2-18b has a synchronous rotation, we show that the atmospheric circulation in the upper atmosphere essentially corresponds to a symmetric day-to-night circulation with very efficient heat redistribution. This regime preferentially leads to cloud formation at the sub-stellar point or at the terminator. Clouds form at metallicity ≥100× solar with relatively large particles (radius = 30–450
μ
m). At 100–300× solar metallicity, the cloud fraction at the terminators is small with a limited impact on transit spectra. At 1000× solar metallicity, very thick clouds form at the terminator, greatly flattening the transit spectrum. The cloud distribution appears very sensitive to the concentration of cloud condensation nuclei and to the planetary rotation rate, although the impact on transit spectra is modest in the near-infrared. Fitting HST transit data with our simulated spectra suggests a metallicity of ~100–300× solar, which is consistent with the mass-metallicity trend of giant planets in the Solar System. In addition, we found that the cloud fraction at the terminator can be highly variable in some conditions, leading to a potential variability in transit spectra that is correlated with spectral windows. This effect could be common on cloudy exoplanets and could be detectable with multiple transit observations. Finally, the complex cloud dynamics revealed in this study highlight the inherent 3D nature of clouds shaped by couplings between microphysics, radiation, and atmospheric circulation.
We developed a simple, physical, and self-consistent cloud model for brown dwarfs and young giant exoplanets. We compared different parametrizations for the cloud particle size, by fixing either ...particle radii or the mixing efficiency (parameter fsed), or by estimating particle radii from simple microphysics. The cloud scheme with simple microphysics appears to be the best parametrization by successfully reproducing the observed photometry and spectra of brown dwarfs and young giant exoplanets. In particular, it reproduces the L-T transition, due to the condensation of silicate and iron clouds below the visible/near-IR photosphere. It also reproduces the reddening observed for low-gravity objects, due to an increase of cloud optical depth for low gravity. In addition, we found that the cloud greenhouse effect shifts chemical equilibrium, increasing the abundances of species stable at high temperature. This effect should significantly contribute to the strong variation of methane abundance at the L-T transition and to the methane depletion observed on young exoplanets. Finally, we predict the existence of a continuum of brown dwarfs and exoplanets for absolute J magnitude = 15-18 and color = 0-3, due to the evolution of the L-T transition with gravity. This self-consistent model therefore provides a general framework to understand the effects of clouds and appears well-suited for atmospheric retrievals.
Aims. Following the announcement of the detection of phosphine (PH3) in the cloud deck of Venus at millimeter wavelengths, we have searched for other possible signatures of this molecule in the ...infrared range.Methods. Since 2012, we have been observing Venus in the thermal infrared at various wavelengths to monitor the behavior of SO2 and H2O at the cloud top. We have identified a spectral interval recorded in March 2015 around 950 cm−1 where a PH3 transition is present.Results. From the absence of any feature at this frequency, we derive, on the disk-integrated spectrum, a 3-σ upper limit of 5 ppbv for the PH3 mixing ratio, assumed to be constant throughout the atmosphere. This limit is 4 times lower than the disk-integrated mixing ratio derived at millimeter wavelengths.Conclusions. Our result brings a strong constraint on the maximum PH3 abundance at the cloud top and in the lower mesosphere of Venus.
The global D/H ratio on Mars is an important measurement for understanding the past history of water on Mars; locally, through condensation and sublimation processes, it is a possible tracer of the ...sources and sinks of water vapor on Mars. Measuring D/H as a function of longitude, latitude and season is necessary for determining the present averaged value of D/H on Mars. Following an earlier measurement in April 2014, we used the Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (EXES) instrument on board the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) facility to map D/H on Mars on two occasions, on March 24, 2016 (Ls = 127°), and January 24, 2017 (Ls = 304°), by measuring simultaneously the abundances of H2O and HDO in the 1383–1391 cm−1 range (7.2 μm). The D/H disk-integrated values are 4.0 (+0.8, −0.6) × Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) and 4.5 (+0.7, −0.6) × VSMOW, respectively, in agreement with our earlier result. The main result of this study is that there is no evidence of strong local variations in the D/H ratio nor for seasonal variations in the global D/H ratio between northern summer and southern summer.
Context. Hot Jupiters are tidally locked gaseous exoplanets that exhibit large day-night temperature contrasts. Their cooler nightsides are thought to host clouds, as has been suggested by numerous ...observations. However, the exact nature of these clouds, their spatial distribution, and their impact on atmospheric dynamics, thermal structure, and spectra is still unclear. Aims. We investigate the atmosphere of WASP-43 b, a short period hot Jupiter recently observed with James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to understand the radiative and dynamical impact of clouds on the atmospheric circulation and thermal structure. We aim to understand the impact of different kinds of condensates potentially forming in WASP-43 b, with various sizes and atmospheric metallicities. Methods. We used a 3D global climate model (GCM) with a new temperature-dependent cloud model that includes radiative feedbacks coupled with hydrodynamical integrations to study the atmospheric properties of WASP-43 b. We produced observables from our GCM simulations and compared them to spectral phase curves from various observations to derive constraints on the atmospheric properties. Results. We show that clouds have a net warming effect, meaning that the greenhouse effect caused by clouds is stronger than the albedo cooling effect. We show that the radiative effect of clouds has various impacts on the dynamical and thermal structure of WASP-43 b. Depending on the type of condensates and their sizes, the radiative-dynamical feedback will modify the horizontal and vertical temperature gradient and reduce the wind speed. For super-solar metallicity atmospheres, fewer clouds form in the atmosphere, leading to a weaker feedback. Comparisons with spectral phase curves observed with HST, Spitzer , and JWST indicate that WASP-43 b's nightside is cloudy and rule out sub-micron Mg 2 SiO 4 cloud particles as the main opacity source. Distinguishing between cloudy solarand cloudy super-solar-metallicity atmospheres is not straightforward, and further observations of both reflected light and thermal emission are needed.
We present a study of the seasonal evolution of Titan’s thermal field and distributions of haze, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CH3C2H, C3H8, C4H2, C6H6, HCN, and HC3N from March 2015 (Ls = 66°) to September 2017 ...(Ls = 93°) (i.e., from the last third of northern spring to early summer). We analyzed thermal emission of Titan’s atmosphere acquired by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer with limb and nadir geometry to retrieve the stratospheric and mesospheric temperature and mixing ratios pole-to-pole meridional cross sections from 5 mbar to 50 μbar (120–650 km). The southern stratopause varied in a complex way and showed a global temperature increase from 2015 to 2017 at high-southern latitudes. Stratospheric southern polar temperatures, which were observed to be as low as 120 K in early 2015 due to the polar night, showed a 30 K increase (at 0.5 mbar) from March 2015 to May 2017 due to adiabatic heating in the subsiding branch of the global overturning circulation. All photochemical compounds were enriched at the south pole by this subsidence. Polar cross sections of these enhanced species, which are good tracers of the global dynamics, highlighted changes in the structure of the southern polar vortex. These high enhancements combined with the unusually low temperatures (<120 K) of the deep stratosphere resulted in condensation at the south pole between 0.1 and 0.03 mbar (240–280 km) of HCN, HC3N, C6H6 and possibly C4H2 in March 2015 (Ls = 66°). These molecules were observed to condense deeper with increasing distance from the south pole. At high-northern latitudes, stratospheric enrichments remaining from the winter were observed below 300 km between 2015 and May 2017 (Ls = 90°) for all chemical compounds and up to September 2017 (Ls = 93°) for C2H2, C2H4, CH3C2H, C3H8, and C4H2. In September 2017, these local enhancements were less pronounced than earlier for C2H2, C4H2, CH3C2H, HC3N, and HCN, and were no longer observed for C2H6 and C6 H6, which suggests a change in the northern polar dynamics near the summer solstice. These enhancements observed during the entire spring may be due to confinement of this enriched air by a small remaining winter circulation cell that persisted in the low stratosphere up to the northern summer solstice, according to predictions of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace Titan Global Climate Model (IPSL Titan GCM). In the mesosphere we derived a depleted layer in C2H2, HCN, and C2H6 from the north pole to mid-southern latitudes, while C4H2, C3H4, C2H4, and HC3N seem to have been enriched in the same region. In the deep stratosphere, all molecules except C2H4 were depleted due to their condensation sink located deeper than 5 mbar outside the southern polar vortex. HCN, C4H2, and CH3C2H volume mixing ratio cross section contours showed steep slopes near the mid-latitudes or close to the equator, which can be explained by upwelling air in this region. Upwelling is also supported by the cross section of the C2H4 (the only molecule not condensing among those studied here) volume mixing ratio observed in the northern hemisphere. We derived the zonal wind velocity up to mesospheric levels from the retrieved thermal field. We show that zonal winds were faster and more confined around the south pole in 2015 (Ls = 67−72°) than later. In 2016, the polar zonal wind speed decreased while the fastest winds had migrated toward low-southern latitudes.
Context.
Young giant planets are the best targets for characterization with direct imaging. The Medium Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the recently launched
...James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST) will give access to the first spectroscopic data for direct imaging above 5 µm with unprecedented sensitivity at a spectral resolution of up to 3700. This will provide a valuable complement to near-infrared data from ground-based instruments for characterizing these objects.
Aims.
We aim to evaluate the performance of MIRI/MRS in detecting molecules in the atmosphere of exoplanets and in constraining atmospheric parameters using Exo-REM atmospheric models.
Methods.
The molecular mapping technique based on cross-correlation with synthetic models was recently introduced. We test this promising detection and characterization method on simulated MIRI/MRS data.
Results.
Directly imaged planets can be detected with MIRI/MRS, and we are able to detect molecules (H
2
O, CO, NH
3
, CH
4
, HCN, PH
3
, CO
2
) at various angular separations depending on the strength of the molecular features and brightness of the target. We find that the stellar spectral type has a weak impact on the detection level. This method is globally most efficient for planets with temperatures below 1500 K, for bright targets, and for angular separations of greater than 1′′. Our parametric study allows us to anticipate the ability to characterize planets that will be detected in the future.
Conclusions.
The MIRI/MRS will give access to molecular species not yet detected in exoplanetary atmospheres. The detection of molecules acting as indicators of the temperature of the planets will make it possible to discriminate between various hypotheses of the preceding studies, and the derived molecular abundance ratios should bring new constraints on planet-formation scenarios.
Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is highly variable above the clouds of Venus, yet no spatial or temporal variability below the clouds had been known until now. Aims. In order to constrain Venus's atmospheric ...circulation and chemistry (including possible volcanic outgassing), more accurate SO2 measurements below the clouds are therefore needed.We used the high-resolution iSHELL spectrometer located at the NASA IRTF to record thermal night-side spectra, which we fitted using an updated forward radiative transfer model that was previously employed to process SpeX/IRTF and VIRTIS-H/Venus Express spectra. We report, for the first time, an increase in SO2 with increasing latitude (+30% between the minimum near 15°S and > 35°N). This is consistent with the interaction between the Hadley-cell circulation and a postulated vertical profile in SO2</ estimated to increase between 30 and 40 km in altitude, as previously suggested by in situ ISAV measurements. This SO2 variability challenges our current understanding of Venus's tropospheric thermochemistry and underlines the high scientific return from high-resolution spectroscopy from, for example, future orbiters.
Context. Since the end of 2013 a new generation of instruments optimized to image young giant planets around nearby stars directly is becoming available on 8-m class telescopes, both at Very Large ...Telescope and Gemini in the southern hemisphere. Beyond the achievement of high contrast and the discovery capability, these instruments are designed to obtain photometric and spectral information to characterize the atmospheres of these planets. Aims. We aim to interpret future photometric and spectral measurements from these instruments, in terms of physical parameters of the planets, with an atmospheric model using a minimal number of assumptions and parameters. Methods. We developed the Exoplanet Radiative-convective Equilibrium Model (Exo-REM) to analyze the photometric and spectroscopic data of directly imaged planets. The input parameters are a planet’s surface gravity (g), effective temperature (Teff), and elemental composition. The model predicts the equilibrium temperature profile and mixing ratio profiles of the most important gases. Opacity sources include the H2-He collision-induced absorption and molecular lines from eight compounds (including CH4 updated with the Exomol line list). Absorption by iron and silicate cloud particles is added above the expected condensation levels with a fixed scale height and a given optical depth at some reference wavelength. Scattering was not included at this stage. Results. We applied Exo-REM to photometric and spectral observations of the planet β Pictoris b obtained in a series of near-infrared filters. We derived Teff = 1550 ± 150 K, log (g) = 3.5 ± 1, and radius R = 1.76 ± 0.24 RJup (2σ error bars from photometric measurements). These values are comparable to those found in the literature, although with more conservative error bars, consistent with the model accuracy. We were able to reproduce, within error bars, the J- and H-band spectra of β Pictoris b. We finally investigated the precision to which the above parameters can be constrained from SPHERE measurements using different sets of near-infrared filters as well as low-resolution spectroscopy.
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