Atmospheric dynamics of terrestrial planets
Chapter in Handbook of Exoplanets, Springer (2018)
Abstract:
The solar system presents us with a number of planetary bodies with shallow atmospheres that are sufficiently Earth-like in their form and structure to be termed “terrestrial.” These atmospheres have much in common, in having circulations that are driven primarily by heating from the Sun and radiative cooling to space, which vary markedly with latitude. The principal response to this forcing is typically in the form of a (roughly zonally symmetric) meridional overturning that transports heat vertically upward and in latitude. But even within the solar system, these planets exhibit many differences in the types of large-scale waves and instabilities that also contribute substantially to determining their respective climates. Here we argue that the study of simplified models (either numerical simulations or laboratory experiments) provides considerable insights into the likely roles of planetary size, rotation, thermal stratification, and other factors in determining the styles of global circulation and dominant waves and instability processes. We discuss the importance of a number of key dimensionless parameters, for example, the thermal Rossby and the Burger numbers as well as nondimensional measures of the frictional or radiative timescales, in defining the type of circulation regime to be expected in a prototypical planetary atmosphere subject to axisymmetric driving. These considerations help to place each of the solar system terrestrial planets into an appropriate dynamical context and also lay the foundations for predicting and understanding the climate and circulation regimes of (as yet undiscovered) Earth-like extrasolar planets. However, as recent discoveries of “super-Earth” planets around some nearby stars are beginning to reveal, this parameter space is likely to be incomplete, and other factors, such as the possibility of tidally locked rotation and tidal forcing, may also need to be taken into account for some classes of extrasolar planet.Descent rate models of the synchronization of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation by the annual cycle in tropical upwelling
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences American Meteorological Society 75:7 (2018) 2281-2297
Abstract:
The response of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) to an imposed mean upwelling with a periodic modulation is studied, by modelling the dynamics of the zero wind line at the equator using a class of equations known as ‘descent rate’ models. These are simple mathematical models that capture the essence of QBO synchronization by focusing on the dynamics of the height of the zero wind line. A heuristic descent rate model for the zero wind line is described, and is shown to capture many of the synchronization features seen in previous studies of the QBO. Using a simple transformation, it is then demonstrated that the standard Holton-Lindzen model of the QBO can itself be put into the form of a descent rate model if a quadratic velocity profile is assumed below the zero wind line. The resulting non-autonomous ordinary differential equation captures much of the synchronization behaviour observed in the full Holton-Lindzen partial differential equation. The new class of models provides a novel framework within which to understand synchronization of the QBO, and we demonstrate a close relationship between these models and the circle map well-known in the mathematics literature. Finally, we analyse reanalysis datasets to validate some of the predictions of our descent rate models, and find statistically significant evidence for synchronization of the QBO that is consistent with model behaviour.Superrotation on Venus, on Titan, and elsewhere
Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences Annual Reviews 46 (2018) 175-202
Abstract:
The superrotation of the atmospheres of Venus and Titan has puzzled dynamicists for many years and seems to put these planets in a very different dynamical regime from most other planets. In this review, we consider how to define superrotation objectively and explore the constraints that determine its occurrence. Atmospheric superrotation also occurs elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond, and we compare Venus and Titan with Earth and other planets for which wind estimates are available. The extreme superrotation on Venus and Titan poses some difficult challenges for numerical models of atmospheric circulation, much more difficult than for more rapidly rotating planets such as Earth or Mars. We consider mechanisms for generating and maintaining a superrotating state, all of which involve a global meridional overturning circulation. The role of nonaxisymmetric eddies is crucial, however, but the detailed mechanisms may differ between Venus, Titan, and other planets.An experimental investigation of blocking by partial barriers in a rotating baroclinic annulus
Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics (2017) 1-33
Abstract:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group We present a series of experimental investigations in which a differentially-heated annulus was used to investigate the effects of topography on rotating, stratified flows with similarities to the Earth’s atmospheric or oceanic circulation. In particular, we compare and investigate blocking effects via partial mechanical barriers to previous experiments by the authors utilising azimuthally-periodic topography. The mechanical obstacle used was an isolated ridge, forming a partial barrier, employed to study the difference between partially blocked and fully unblocked flow. The topography was found to lead to the formation of bottom-trapped waves, as well as impacting the circulation at a level much higher than the top of the ridge. This produced a unique flow structure when the drifting flow and the topography interacted in the form of an “interference” regime at low Taylor number, but forming an erratic “irregular” regime at higher Taylor number. The results also showed evidence of resonant wave-triads, similar to those noted with periodic wavenumber-3 topography by Marshall and Read (Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., 2015, 109), though the component wavenumbers of the wave-triads and their impact on the flow were found to depend on the topography in question. With periodic topography, wave-triads were found to occur between both the baroclinic and barotropic components of the zonal wavenumber-3 mode and the wavenumber-6 baroclinic component, whereas with the partial barrier two nonlinear resonant wave-triads were noted, each sharing a common wavenumber-1 mode.Phase synchronization of baroclinic waves in a differentially heated rotating annulus experiment subject to periodic forcing with a variable duty cycle
Chaos AIP Publishing 27:12 (2017) 127001