We survey the basic principles of atmospheric dynamics relevant to explaining
existing and future observations of exoplanets, both gas giant and terrestrial.
Given the paucity of data on exoplanet atmospheres, our approach is to
emphasize fundamental principles and insights gained from Solar-System studies
that are likely to be generalizable to exoplanets. We begin by presenting the
hierarchy of basic equations used in atmospheric dynamics, including the
Navier-Stokes, primitive, shallow-water, and two-dimensional nondivergent
models. We then survey key concepts in atmospheric dynamics, including the
importance of planetary rotation, the concept of balance, and scaling arguments
to show how turbulent interactions generally produce large-scale east-west
banding on rotating planets. We next turn to issues specific to giant planets,
including their expected interior and atmospheric thermal structures, the
implications for their wind patterns, and mechanisms to pump their east-west
jets. Hot Jupiter atmospheric dynamics are given particular attention, as these
close-in planets have been the subject of most of the concrete developments in
the study of exoplanetary atmospheres. We then turn to the basic elements of
circulation on terrestrial planets as inferred from Solar-System studies,
including Hadley cells, jet streams, processes that govern the large-scale
horizontal temperature contrasts, and climate, and we discuss how these
insights may apply to terrestrial exoplanets. Although exoplanets surely
possess a greater diversity of circulation regimes than seen on the planets in
our Solar System, our guiding philosophy is that the multi-decade study of
Solar-System planets reviewed here provides a foundation upon which our
understanding of more exotic exoplanetary meteorology must build.Comment: In EXOPLANETS, edited by S. Seager, to be published in the Spring of
2010 in the Space Science Series of the University of Arizona Press (Tucson,
AZ) (refereed; accepted for publication
