Radiative Hydrodynamical Studies of Irradiated Atmospheres

Abstract

Transiting planets provide a unique opportunity to study the atmospheres of extra-solar planets. Radiative hydrodynamical models of the atmosphere provide a crucial link between the physical characteristics of the atmosphere and the observed properties. Here I present results from 3D simulations which solve the full Navier-Stokes equations coupled to a flux-limited diffusion treatment of radiation transfer for planets with 1, 3, and 7 day periods. Variations in opacity amongst models leads to a variation in the temperature differential across the planet, while atmospheric dynamics becomes much more variable at longer orbital periods. I also present 3D radiative simulations illustrating the importance of distinguishing between optical and infrared opacities.

To appear in the Proceedings of IAU Symposium 253, "Transiting Planets", May 2008, Cambridge, MA

References in corpus (6)

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Can TiO Explain Thermal Inversions in the Upper Atmospheres of Irradiated Giant Planets?
• Examining NHD vs QHD in the GCM THOR with non-grey radiative transfer for the hot Jupiter regime