Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters

J. Y-K. Cho; J. W. Skinner; H. Th. Thrastarson

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arXiv · 2105.12759

Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters

J. Y-K. Cho·J. W. Skinner·H. Th. Thrastarson

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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.

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J. Y-K. Cho, J. W. Skinner, H. Th. Thrastarson. 2021-05-26. Storms, Variability, and Multiple Equilibria on Hot-Jupiters. https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.12759

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