Met Office Unified Model outputs for simulations of Proxima Centauri b and TRAPPIST-1e
Creators
- 1. University of Edinburgh
- 2. University of Exeter
Description
Five datasets generated by the Met Office Unified Model configured for exoplanets Proxima Centauri b and TRAPPIST-1e.
1. Control Prox: A simulation of Proxima Centauri b with a moist N2 atmosphere using observed planetary data (radius, stellar constant) as model parameters
2. Warm Prox: A simulation of Proxima Centauri b with a moist N2 atmosphere as if moved to the inner edge of its habitable zone
3. Control Trap: A simulation of TRAPPIST-1e with a moist N2 atmosphere using observed planetary data
4. Warm Trap: A simulation of TRAPPIST-1e with a moist N2 atmosphere as if moved to the inner edge of its habitable zone
5. Dry Trap: A simulation of TRAPPIST-1e with a dry atmosphere
The data is used in Cohen et al. (2023). ""Traveling planetary-scale waves cause cloud variability on tidally locked aquaplanets." Submitted to The Planetary Science Journal.
Abstract:
"Cloud cover at the planetary limb of water-rich Earth-like planets is likely to weaken chemical
signatures in transmission spectra, impeding attempts to characterize these atmospheres. However,
based on observations of Earth and solar system worlds, exoplanets with atmospheres should have both
short-term weather and long-term climate variability, implying that cloud cover may be less during
some observing periods. We identify and describe a mechanism driving periodic clear sky events at
the terminators in simulations of tidally locked Earth-like planets. A feedback between dayside cloud
radiative effects, incoming stellar radiation and heating, and the dynamical state of the atmosphere,
especially the zonal wavenumber-1 Rossby wave identified in past work on tidally locked planets, leads
to oscillations in Rossby wave phase speeds and in the position of Rossby gyres and results in advection
of clouds to or away from the planet’s eastern terminator. We study this oscillation in simulations of
Proxima Centauri b, TRAPPIST 1-e, and rapidly rotating versions of these worlds located at the inner
edge of their stars’ habitable zones. We simulate time series of the transit depths of the 1.4 μm water
feature and 2.7 μm carbon dioxide feature. The impact of atmospheric variability on the transmission
spectra is sensitive to the structure of the dayside cloud cover and the location of the Rossby gyres,
but none of our simulations have variability significant enough to be detectable with current methods."