79 research outputs found
General circulation modelling of close-in extrasolar giant planets
PhDA large fraction of the extrasolar planets detected so far are giant planets
that have such short orbital periods (a few days) that they are thought
to be tidally-synchronised with the host star. Such orbits lead to permanent
day/night sides on the planets and provide a forcing condition for
atmospheric dynamics that is not present in the Solar System. The main
subject of this thesis is to model the atmospheric dynamics of these close-in
extrasolar giant planets, using an accurate three-dimensional general
circulation model (GCM).
Using the GCM, the primitive equations are numerically solved, with
idealised forcing represented by Newtonian relaxation. A large number of
simulations is performed to thoroughly explore the relevant physical and
numerical parameter space.
First, it is found that different initial flow states lead to markedly different
flow and temperature distributions. This result is in contrast with
the results or assumptions of many published studies, and underlines the
fact that circulation models are currently unsuitable for quantitative predictions
without better constrained, and well-posed, initial conditions.
Second, the effects of artificial viscosity – particularly in relation to the
thermal relaxation timescale – are studied. It is demonstrated that using
a large range of thermal time scales, including very short ones ( 1 h), as
is common in the literature, leads to dominant noise and/or excessively
dissipated fields.
Finally, variations of the strength of thermal forcing are studied. Distinct
stationary or oscillatory states are identified for different sets of forcing
parameters. In addition, multiple long lasting states are observed for
a given forcing. Most of the states are characterised by a low number
( 4) of large-scale vortices and planetary waves, which exhibit a periodic time variability. The spatiotemporal variability can be important for observational
studies, and provides a strong argument for making repeated
measurements of a given planet.European Union Fellowshi
The EChO science case
The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune—all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10⁻⁴ relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 μm with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 μm. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R ~ 300 for wavelengths less than 5 μm and R ~ 30 for wavelengths greater than this. The transit spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m² is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m² telescope, diffraction limited at 3 μm has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate than current observations. This would enable the detection of molecular abundances three orders of magnitude lower than currently possible and a fourfold increase from the handful of molecules detected to date. Combining these data with estimates of planetary bulk compositions from accurate measurements of their radii and masses would allow degeneracies associated with planetary interior modelling to be broken, giving unique insight into the interior structure and elemental abundances of these alien worlds. EChO would allow scientists to study exoplanets both as a population and as individuals. The mission can target super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300–3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. The EChO core science would be delivered by a three-tier survey. The EChO Chemical Census: This is a broad survey of a few-hundred exoplanets, which allows us to explore the spectroscopic and chemical diversity of the exoplanet population as a whole. The EChO Origin: This is a deep survey of a subsample of tens of exoplanets for which significantly higher signal to noise and spectral resolution spectra can be obtained to explain the origin of the exoplanet diversity (such as formation mechanisms, chemical processes, atmospheric escape). The EChO Rosetta Stones: This is an ultra-high accuracy survey targeting a subsample of select exoplanets. These will be the bright “benchmark” cases for which a large number of measurements would be taken to explore temporal variations, and to obtain two and three dimensional spatial information on the atmospheric conditions through eclipse-mapping techniques. If EChO were launched today, the exoplanets currently observed are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. The Chemical Census survey would consist of > 160 exoplanets with a range of planetary sizes, temperatures, orbital parameters and stellar host properties. Additionally, over the next 10 years, several new ground- and space-based transit photometric surveys and missions will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO’s launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets
Atmospheric circulation of hot Jupiters: insensitivity to initial conditions
The ongoing characterization of hot Jupiters has motivated a variety of
circulation models of their atmospheres. Such models must be integrated
starting from an assumed initial state, which is typically taken to be a
wind-free, rest state. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of hot-Jupiter
atmospheric circulation models to initial conditions. We consider two classes
of models--shallow-water models, which have proven successful at illuminating
the dynamical mechanisms at play on these planets, and full three-dimensional
models similar to those being explored in the literature. Models are
initialized with zonal jets, and we explore a variety of different initial jet
profiles. We demonstrate that, in both classes of models, the final,
equilibrated state is independent of initial condition--as long as frictional
drag near the bottom of the domain and/or interaction with a specified
planetary interior are included so that the atmosphere can adjust angular
momentum over time relative to the interior. When such mechanisms are included,
otherwise identical models initialized with vastly different initial conditions
all converge to the same statistical steady state. In some cases, the models
exhibit modest time variability; this variability results in random
fluctuations about the statistical steady state, but we emphasize that, even in
these cases, the statistical steady state itself does not depend on initial
conditions. Although the outcome of hot-Jupiter circulation models depend on
details of the radiative forcing and frictional drag, aspects of which remain
uncertain, we conclude that the specification of initial conditions is not a
source of uncertainty, at least over the parameter range explored in most
current models.Comment: Revised version; accepted and published. 16 pages, 16 figure
The Role of Drag in the Energetics of Strongly Forced Exoplanet Atmospheres
In contrast to the Earth, where frictional heating is typically negligible,
we show that drag mechanisms could act as an important heat source in the
strongly-forced atmospheres of some exoplanets, with the potential to alter the
circulation. We modify the standard formalism of the atmospheric energy cycle
to explicitly track the loss of kinetic energy and the associated frictional
(re)heating, for application to exoplanets such as the asymmetrically heated
"hot Jupiters" and gas giants on highly eccentric orbits. We establish that an
understanding of the dominant drag mechanisms and their dependence on local
atmospheric conditions is critical for accurate modeling, not just in their
ability to limit wind speeds, but also because they could possibly change the
energetics of the circulation enough to alter the nature of the flow. We
discuss possible sources of drag and estimate the strength necessary to
significantly influence the atmospheric energetics. As we show, the frictional
heating depends on the magnitude of kinetic energy dissipation as well as its
spatial variation, so that the more localized a drag mechanism is, the weaker
it can be and still affect the circulation. We also use the derived formalism
to estimate the rate of numerical loss of kinetic energy in a few previously
published hot Jupiter models with and without magnetic drag and find it to be
surprisingly large, at 5-10% of the incident stellar irradiation.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, ApJ accepted; minor revision
A Workshop on Using NASA AIRS Data to Monitor Drought for the U.S. Drought Monitor
Recent studies indicate that drought indicators based on near-surface air relative humidity (RH), air temperature (T), and air vapor pressure deficit (VPD), derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite can detect the onset of drought earlier than other drought indicators, specifically standardized precipitation index (SPI), which is widely used for drought onset detection. A recent study showed that standardized relative humidity index (SRHI) can detect drought signals earlier than SPI (Farahmand et al. 2015). Relative humidity is a climate variable defined as the ratio of air vapor pressure to saturated vapor pressure. Precipitation and relative humidity are related to each other in the sense that significant precipitation is not expected at low relative humidity. SRHI detected drought onset earlier or at the same time as SPI with a global average of approximately 0.6 (i.e., 60% of all events) and the mean lead time of 1.9 months. Also, SRHI successfully detected the early signs of the 2012 Midwestern drought, the 2011 Texas drought, and the 2010 Russian drought (Farahmand et al. 2015). In another study, standardized vapor pressure deficit (SVPD) and standardized temperature (ST) indicators from the AIRS mission have been shown to detect drought earlier or at the same time as SPI with an average lead time of 1.5 months and in 60% of events in the CONUS (Behrangi et al. 2016). VPD is an important climate variable, incorporating elements of both temperature and relative humidity. VPD is also a major controlling factor of evapotranspiration demand. With increasing air aridity, VPD increases which in turn indicates greater evaporation stress. Studies show that VPD reported increases during the formation and rapid intensification of drought conditions during the 2011 and 2012 drought events, suggesting that remotely sensed VPD holds considerable potential for drought early warning and assessment (Behrangi et al. 2015; Farahmand et al. 2021)
Effects of Initial Flow on Close-In Planet Atmospheric Circulation
We use a general circulation model to study the three-dimensional (3-D) flow
and temperature distributions of atmospheres on tidally synchronized extrasolar
planets. In this work, we focus on the sensitivity of the evolution to the
initial flow state, which has not received much attention in 3-D modeling
studies. We find that different initial states lead to markedly different
distributions-even under the application of strong forcing (large day-night
temperature difference with a short "thermal drag time") that may be
representative of close-in planets. This is in contrast with the results or
assumptions of many published studies. In general, coherent jets and vortices
(and their associated temperature distributions) characterize the flow, and
they evolve differently in time, depending on the initial condition. If the
coherent structures reach a quasi- stationary state, their spatial locations
still vary. The result underlines the fact that circulation models are
currently unsuitable for making quantitative predictions (e.g., location and
size of a "hot spot") without better constrained, and well posed, initial
conditions.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; 23 pages, 9
figures
Gravity Waves on Hot Extrasolar Planets: I. Propagation and Interaction with the Background
We study the effects of gravity waves, or g-modes, on hot extrasolar planets.
These planets are expected to possess stably-stratified atmospheres, which
support gravity waves. In this paper, we review the derivation of the equation
that governs the linear dynamics of gravity waves and describe its application
to a hot extrasolar planet, using HD209458 b as a generic example. We find that
gravity waves can exhibit a wide range of behaviors, even for a single
atmospheric profile. The waves can significantly accelerate or decelerate the
background mean flow, depending on the difference between the wave phase and
mean flow speeds. In addition, the waves can provide significant heating (~100
to ~1000 K per planetary rotation), especially to the region of the atmosphere
above about 10 scale heights from the excitation region. Furthermore, by
propagating horizontally, gravity waves provide a mechanism for transporting
momentum and heat from the dayside of a tidally locked planet to its nightside.
We discuss work that needs to be undertaken to incorporate these effects in
current atmosphere models of extrasolar planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; 11 pages, 10
figures
Occurrence of gastro-intestinal nematodes and liver flukes in first season grazing beef cattle in 7 herds in Viken municipality in Norway
Smitte med endoparasitter på beite kan påvirke helse og produksjon i storfebesetninger. De viktigste beiteparasittene hos storfe er nematodene Ostertagia ostertagi og Cooperia oncophora, samt den store leverikten, Fasciola hepatica. I denne studien har det blitt analysert avføringsprøver fra 58 kalver fra syv ulike kjøttfebesetninger i Viken og Oslo. Alle kalvene har vært ute på beite for første gang. Ingen av besetningene som deltok i studien hadde behandlet dyrene medikamentelt for innvollsparasitter i løpet av beitesesongen. Prøvene ble analysert kvantitativt for egg fra gastrointestinale nematoder og kvalitativt for egg fra Fasciola hepatica. Prøvetakingsperioden var fra september til november i 2021 og ble gjort rett etter dyrene ble tatt inn fra beite.
Alle kalver fra alle besetninger hadde lave tall parasittegg (<500 EPG feces). Egg fra Fasciola hepatica ble ikke påvist. Vi fant ingen statistisk forskjell i EPG feces mellom besetninger som brukte beiterotasjon og besetninger som ikke hadde denne praksisen. EPG hos kalver over 200 dager gamle var høyere enn EPG hos kalver yngre enn 200 dager (p = 0,01)
A General Circulation Model for Gaseous Exoplanets with Double-Gray Radiative Transfer
We present a new version of our code for modeling the atmospheric circulation
on gaseous exoplanets, now employing a "double-gray" radiative transfer scheme,
which self-consistently solves for fluxes and heating throughout the
atmosphere, including the emerging (observable) infrared flux. We separate the
radiation into infrared and optical components, each with its own absorption
coefficient, and solve standard two-stream radiative transfer equations. We use
a constant optical absorption coefficient, while the infrared coefficient can
scale as a powerlaw with pressure. Here we describe our new code in detail and
demonstrate its utility by presenting a generic hot Jupiter model. We discuss
issues related to modeling the deepest pressures of the atmosphere and describe
our use of the diffusion approximation for radiative fluxes at high optical
depths. In addition, we present new models using a simple form for magnetic
drag on the atmosphere. We calculate emitted thermal phase curves and find that
our drag-free model has the brightest region of the atmosphere offset by ~12
degrees from the substellar point and a minimum flux that is 17% of the
maximum, while the model with the strongest magnetic drag has an offset of only
~2 degrees and a ratio of 13%. Finally, we calculate rates of numerical loss of
kinetic energy at ~15% for every model except for our strong-drag model, where
there is no measurable loss; we speculate that this is due to the much
decreased wind speeds in that model.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Ap
- …