2025/05/02 by J. W. Skinner, Shen Wei, Skinner, J. W. +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2505.01397
openalex publication_date 2025/05/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We perform high-resolution atmospheric flow simulations of hot and warm giant exoplanets that are tidally locked. The modeled atmospheres are representative of those on KELT-11b and WASP-39b, which possess markedly different equilibrium temperatures but reside in a similar dynamical regime: in this regime, their key dynamical numbers (e.g., Rossby and Froude numbers) are comparable. Despite their temperature difference, both planets exhibit qualitatively similar atmospheric circulation patterns, which are characterized by turbulent equatorial flows, anticyclonic polar vortices, and large-scale Rossby waves that gives rise to quasi-zonal flows in the extra-tropics (i.e., near ~20 degrees). Quantitative differences between the KELT-11b and WASP-39b atmospheres reflect their different Rossby deformation scales, which influence the horizontal length scale of wave--vortex interactions and the overall structure of the circulation.