Formation and dynamics of water clouds on temperate sub-Neptunes: the example of K2-18b
CHARNAY, Benjamin
Observatoire de Paris
Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique [LESIA]
Voir plus >
Observatoire de Paris
Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique [LESIA]
CHARNAY, Benjamin
Observatoire de Paris
Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique [LESIA]
< Réduire
Observatoire de Paris
Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique [LESIA]
Langue
en
Article de revue
Ce document a été publié dans
Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A. 2021-02, vol. 646, p. A171
EDP Sciences
Résumé en anglais
Hubble (HST) spectroscopic transit observations of the temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b were interpreted as the presence of water vapour with potential water clouds. 1D modelling studies also predict the formation of water ...Lire la suite >
Hubble (HST) spectroscopic transit observations of the temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b were interpreted as the presence of water vapour with potential water clouds. 1D modelling studies also predict the formation of water clouds at some conditions. However, such models cannot predict the cloud cover, driven by atmospheric dynamics and thermal contrasts, and thus their real impact on spectra. The main goal of this study is to understand the formation, distribution and observational consequences of water clouds on K2-18b and other temperate sub-Neptunes. We simulated the atmospheric dynamics, water cloud formation and spectra of K2-18b for H2-dominated atmosphere using a 3D GCM. We analysed the impact of atmospheric composition (with metallicity from 1*solar to 1000*solar), concentration of cloud condensation nuclei and planetary rotation rate. Assuming that K2-18b has a synchronous rotation, we show that the atmospheric circulation in the upper atmosphere essentially corresponds to a symmetric day-to-night circulation. This regime preferentially leads to cloud formation at the substellar point or at the terminator. Clouds form for metallicity >100*solar with relatively large particles. For 100-300*solar metallicity, the cloud fraction at the terminators is small with a limited impact on transit spectra. For 1000*solar metallicity, very thick clouds form at the terminator. The cloud distribution appears very sensitive to the concentration of CCN and to the planetary rotation rate. Fitting HST transit data with our simulated spectra suggests a metallicity of ~100-300*solar. In addition, we found that the cloud fraction at the terminator can be highly variable, leading to a potential variability in transit spectra. This effect could be common on cloudy exoplanets and could be detectable with multiple transit observations.< Réduire
Origine
Importé de halUnités de recherche