The impact of the explicit representation of convection on the climate of a tidally locked planet in global stretched-mesh simulations
Sergeev, DE; Boutle, IA; Lambert, F; et al.Mayne, NJ; Bendall, T; Kohary, K; Olivier, E; Shipway, B
Date: 2024
Article
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
American Astronomical Society / IOP Publishing
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Abstract
Convective processes are crucial in shaping exoplanetary atmospheres but are computationally expensive to simulate directly. A novel technique of simulating moist convection on tidally locked exoplanets
is to use a global 3D model with a stretched mesh. This allows us to locally refine the model resolution
to 4.7 km and resolve ...
Convective processes are crucial in shaping exoplanetary atmospheres but are computationally expensive to simulate directly. A novel technique of simulating moist convection on tidally locked exoplanets
is to use a global 3D model with a stretched mesh. This allows us to locally refine the model resolution
to 4.7 km and resolve fine-scale convective processes without relying on parameterizations. We explore
the impact of mesh stretching on the climate of a slowly rotating TRAPPIST-1e-like planet, assuming
it is 1:1 tidally locked. In the stretched-mesh simulation with explicit convection, the climate is 5 K
colder and 25% drier than that in the simulations with parameterized convection (with both stretched
and quasi-uniform meshes). This is due to the increased cloud reflectivity — because of an increase of
low-level cloudiness — and exacerbated by the diminished greenhouse effect due to less water vapor.
At the same time, our stretched-mesh simulations reproduce the key characteristics of the global climate of tidally locked rocky exoplanets, without any noticeable numerical artifacts. Our methodology
opens an exciting and computationally feasible avenue for improving our understanding of 3D mixing
in exoplanetary atmospheres. Our study also demonstrates the feasibility of a global stretched mesh
configuration for LFRic-Atmosphere, the next-generation Met Office climate and weather model.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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