Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011ess.....2.4011g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, ESS meeting #2, #40.11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The large majority of exoplanets are gas planets exposed to strong
stellar irradiation, and are likely to be tidally locked by their parent
stars. Both 3D models and observations of the tidally locked gas giants have suggested the phenomena of equatorial superrotation in the atmosphere; i.e. the equatorial winds blow faster than self rotation of the planets. The phenomena have exhibited in several slow rotating planets such as Venus and Titan. Some mechanisms have been proposed to explain the equatorial superrotation. In our work, we adopt the theory first
suggested by Fels and Lindzen (1974), that the equatorial superroatation on Venus results from the thermal tides pumping the momentum via vertical
transport. Thermal tides are oscillations in temperature, density, pressure,
and wind velocity driven by the stellar heating. The vertical structure of
thermal tides is basically internal gravity waves with the phase speed equal
to the apparent motion of the parent star. Thermal tides or waves generated
in the stellar heating region have the effect of acceleration to the direction opposite to the stellar motion, leading to the maintenance of superrotational winds. A linear analysis is applied to HD209458b to demonstrate the superrotation formation and maintenance. Our model suggests that when the stellar heating is absorbed near the center of the equatorial jet, the superrotation can be in part explained by thermal tides, which provide the momentum redistribution between different altitudes of the atmosphere. This work is supported by the NSC grant in Taiwan through NSC 98-2112-M-001-011-MY2.
Gu Pin-Gao
Tsai Shihtung
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