1. Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters
- Author
-
Cho, J. Y-K., Skinner, J. W., and Thrastarson, H. Th.
- Subjects
Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics - Abstract
Observations of hot-Jupiter atmospheres show large variations in the location of the hot spot and the amplitude of spectral features. Atmospheric flow simulations using the commonly-employed forcing and initialization have generally produced a large, monolithic patch of stationary hot area located eastward of the substellar point at $\sim 3\!\times\! 10^{-3}$ MPa pressure level. Here we perform high-resolution (up to T682) pseudospectral simulations that accurately capture small-scale eddies and waves, inherent in hot-Jupiter atmospheres due to ageostrophy. The atmospheres contain a large number of intense storms over a wide range of scales, including the planetary-scale. The latter sized storms dictate the large-scale spatial distribution and temporal variability of hot, as well as cold, regions over the planet. In addition, the large storms exhibit quasi-periodic life cycles within multiple equilibrium states -- all identifiable in the disk-integrated time series of the temperature flux., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
- Published
- 2021