Collaborative Research: Moist Convection as a Key to Exoplanet Atmospheres and Evolution

Convection is one of the most fundamental processes in planetary atmospheres. While often imperceptible on Earth, this boiling motion — where warm air rises and cool air subsides — helps to control a wide range of atmospheric properties, from temperature to cloudiness. Despite its central importance, convection and its impacts on how worlds cool over time are thoroughly understudied for gas giant planets. To make novel scientific progress in our understanding of how convective mixing impacts the nature of giant planet atmospheres, the project will develop computational simulation tools aimed at investigating the physical, evolutionary, and observational consequences of convection for gas giant worlds. These simulations will both reveal elements of how our own Solar System has evolved over billions of years and empower observations of distant exoplanets from ground- and space-based platforms. Alongside these novel studies, efforts will also be dedicated to enhancing STEM research experiences for undergraduate researchers from historically marginalized groups. Evidence indicates that convective mixing significantly influences the atmospheric structure of giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs. This is especially true for clement giants experiencing water condensation, due to the large latent heat of condensation and molecular abundance for water. This project will bridge the divide between one-dimensional radiative-convective models and three-dimensional general circulation models through a novel application of convection-resolving fluid dynamics. Outcomes from these simulations will include spectral observables related to convective processes as well as novel models for how gas giant worlds cool over time. The project also includes the design, implementation, sharing, and study of a rapid Python training camp for undergraduate space science researchers from historically marginalized groups. The central goal of this training is to accelerate and improve results from undergraduate faculty-led research experiences. 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.