Atmospheres and Climates of Exoplanets

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Hot Jupiters and Earth-like exoplanets are among the most interesting extrasolar planets amenable to study. Over the next 5-10 years, observational efforts including TESS, SPiROU-NIRPS, JWST and ELTs will dramatically improve the quantity and the quality of the data available to characterize their properties, atmospheres and climates. This brings new and significant modelling opportunities to refine our understanding of these planets. Recently, predictions from the magnetic induction mechanism have been observationally confirmed, making it likely that ohmic dissipation and magnetic drag are responsible for the radius inflation phenomenon in hot Jupiters. As a principal architect of this solution, I propose to lead an effort to refine models of magnetic induction in hot Jupiters so that it can be used as quantitative tool to better understand the structure and evolution of these planets as a population. I will also pursue a program aimed at clarifying the role and magnitude of turbulent vertical transport in hot Jupiter atmospheres. Together, this will illuminate formation scenarios and directly impact our understanding of atmospheric observables for this class of planets. Finding Earth-like habitable planets around nearby stars for follow-up characterization with JWST or ELTs is a key driver of exoplanetary science today. My group has made important contributions regarding the diversity of climates possible on Earth-like exoplanets, in particular cold habitable worlds subject to global climate cycles or habitable snowball states. I will continue to explore the rich parameter space of habitable climate with one major goal: provide the broad context needed to interpret future discoveries. This will be achieved through a well-posed forward-modelling strategy: simulated observations of model climates will be used to understand which aspects of a complex climate system can be reliably inferred from the limited set of observational constraints available to astronomers over the next decade and beyond.