Unveiling the Cloudy Dynamics in Hydrogen-dominated Atmospheres from Giant Planets to Brown Dwarfs

揭示从巨行星到棕矮星的氢主导大气中的云动力学

• 批准号: 2307463
• 负责人: Xi Zhang
• 金额: $ 39.94万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307463&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Unveiling; Cloudy; Dynamics; Hydrogen; dominated

A team led by the University of California-Santa Cruz will explore clouds and their impacts upon atmospheres of giant planets and brown dwarfs. The project will simulate the cloudy dynamics on the four Solar System giant planets as well as brown dwarfs and giant plants orbiting distant stars. The program will aim to understand the physics of temperature, chemical mixing, and patchiness from cold to hot hydrogen-dominated planet atmospheres. Atmosphere models will be open source for the science community. This work will stimulate cross-disciplinary activity between Solar System and galactic scientists. The simulated clouds and storms on giant planets and brown dwarfs from this research will enhance current graduate and undergraduate classes.Clouds provide one of the biggest challenges for interpreting observations of planets. The solution provided here can help solve some long-standing questions. Previously neglected convective inhibition effects could be an essential mechanism for understanding how giant planets and brown dwarf works. This program will explore cloud formation and cloud dynamics on giant planets and brown dwarfs from 100 K to 2000 K in a self-consistent and systematic fashion. The project will simulate the cloudy dynamics on four Solar System giant planets, including CH4, H2S, NH3, [NH4]SH, and H2O clouds, and the dependence of the atmospheric metallicity, investigating the role of clouds on temperature and vertical mixing. The team will also simulate the cloudy dynamics on directly imaged exoplanets and brown dwarfs and their impact upon data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope. A better characterization of dynamics and tracer transport will constrain the abundance of heavy cosmic elements deep within atmospheres, which are crucial to constrain the formation and evolution of the planets and brown dwarfs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由加州大学圣克鲁斯分校领导的一个团队将探索云及其对巨行星和褐矮星大气层的影响。该项目将模拟太阳系四颗巨行星以及围绕遥远恒星运行的棕矮星和巨型植物的云动态。该项目旨在了解温度、化学混合以及从冷到热的以氢为主的行星大气层的不均匀性的物理原理。大气模型将为科学界开源。这项工作将刺激太阳系和银河科学家之间的跨学科活动。这项研究模拟的巨行星和褐矮星上的云层和风暴将增强当前研究生和本科生的课程。云层是解释行星观测的最大挑战之一。这里提供的解决方案可以帮助解决一些长期存在的问题。以前被忽视的对流抑制效应可能是了解巨行星和褐矮星如何运作的重要机制。该计划将以自洽和系统的方式探索 100 K 至 2000 K 期间巨行星和褐矮星上的云形成和云动力学。该项目将模拟太阳系四个巨行星上的云动态，包括 CH4、H2S、NH3、[NH4]SH 和 H2O 云，以及大气金属丰度的依赖性，研究云对温度和垂直混合的作用。该团队还将模拟直接成像的系外行星和褐矮星的云动力学及其对詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜收集的数据的影响。更好地表征动力学和示踪剂传输将限制大气深处重宇宙元素的丰度，这对于限制行星和褐矮星的形成和演化至关重要。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。