Abstract
As observations (transit spectra and secondary eclipse spectra) of extrasolar planets accumulate, it has become clear that clouds and haze are prevalent in the Neptune–Jupiter-sized planets. Clouds and haze have a profound influence on the spectra and must be understood to make sensible interpretation of the data. High-temperature atmospheres are likely to contain condensates of dense materials (minerals and metals), and this presents a challenge to understand how such particles can be maintained high in the atmosphere. Perhaps photochemical haze is the more important aerosol at high altitude, but more work needs to be done to understand its formation and stability. This chapter summarizes the salient observations and ideas about temperature, clouds, and haze in gas and ice giant planets with emphasis on lessons learned from studies in our own solar system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Ackerman AS, Marley MS (2001) Precipitating condensation clouds in substellar atmospheres. Astrophys J 556(2):872–884. https://doi.org/10.1086/321540
Bétrémieux Y (2016) Effects of refraction on transmission spectra of gas giants: decrease of the Rayleigh scattering slope and breaking of retrieval degeneracies. Mon Not R Astron Soc 456(4):4051–4060. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2955
Bétrémieux Y, Swain MR (2017) An analytical formalism accounting for clouds and other “surfaces” for exoplanet transmission spectroscopy. Mon Not R Astron Soc 467:2834
Bond JC, O’Brien DP, Lauretta DS (2010) The compositional diversity of extrasolar terrestrial planets. I. In situ simulations. Astrophys J 715(2):1050–1070. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/715/2/1050
Brogi M, de Kok RJ, Albrecht S, Snellen IAG, Birkby JL, Schwarz H (2016) Rotation and winds of exoplanet hd 189733 b measured with high-dispersion transmission spectroscopy. Astrophys J 817(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/817/2/106
Burrows A, Sudarsky D, Hubeny I (2004) Spectra and diagnostics for the direct detection of wide-separation extrasolar giant planets. Astrophys J 609(1):407–416. https://doi.org/10.1086/420974
Carlson RW, Baines KH, Anderson MS, Filacchione G, Simon AA (2016) Chromophores from photolyzed ammonia reacting with acetylene: application to Jupiter’s great red spot. Icarus 274:106–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.03.008
Charnay B, Meadows V, Leconte J (2015a) 3d modeling of Gj1214b’s atmosphere: vertical mixing driven by an anti-Hadley circulation. Astrophys J 813(1):15. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/813/1/15
Charnay B, Meadows V, Misra A, Leconte J, Arney G (2015b) 3d modeling of GJ1214b’s atmosphere: formation of inhomogeneous high clouds and observational implications. Astrophys J Lett 813(1):L1. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/813/1/L1
Crossfield IJM (2014) Doppler imaging of exoplanets and brown dwarfs. Astron Astrophys 566:A130. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201423750
Crossfield IJM, Biller B, Schlieder JE, Deacon NR, Bonnefoy M, Homeier D,..., Kopytova T (2014) A global cloud map of the nearest known brown dwarf. Nature, 505(7485), 654-+. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12955
De Kok RJ, Stam DM, Karalidi T (2011) Characterizing exoplanetary atmospheres through infrared polarimetry. Astrophys J 741(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/741/1/59
Deming LD, Seager S (2017) Illusion and reality in the atmospheres of exoplanets. https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.00493
Dyudina UA, Sackett PD, Bayliss DDR, Seager S, Throop HB, Dones L (2005) Phase light curves for extrasolar Jupiters and Saturns. Astrophys J 618(2):973–986. https://doi.org/10.1086/426050
Etangs ALD, Pont F, Vidal-Madjar A, Sing D (2008) Rayleigh scattering in the transit spectrum of HD189733b. Astron Astrophys 481(2):L83–L86. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200809388
Evans KF, Stephens GL (1991) A new polarized atmospheric radiative-transfer model. J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 46(5):413–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-4073(91)90043-p
Friedson A, Wong AS, Yung Y (2002) Models for polar haze formation in Jupiter's stratosphere. Icarus 158(2):389–400. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.2002.6885
Gierasch PJ, Conrath BJ (1993) Dynamics of the atmospheres of the outer planets – post-voyager measurement objectives. J Geophys Res Planets 98(E3):5459–5469
Gladstone GR, Allen M, Yung YL (1996) Hydrocarbon photochemistry in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. Icarus 119(1):1–52. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1996.0001
Hansen JE, Hovenier JW (1974) Interpretation of polarization of Venus. J Atmos Sci 31(4):1137–1160. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1974)031<1137:Iotpov>2.0.Co;2
Heng K (2017) Exoplanetary atmospheres: theoretical concepts and foundations. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Hu RY, Seager S (2014) Photochemistry in terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. III. Photochemistry and thermochemistry in thick atmospheres on super earths and mini Neptunes. Astrophys J 784(1):63
Hu RY, Demory BO, Seager S, Lewis N, Showman AP (2015) A semi-analytical model of visible-wavelength phase curves of exoplanets and applications to Kepler-7 B and Kepler-10 B. Astrophys J 802(1):51. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/802/1/51
Hubbard WB, Haemmerle V, Porco CC, Rieke GH, Rieke MJ (1995) The occultation of Sao-78505 by Jupiter. Icarus 113(1):103–109. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1995.1008
Karalidi T, Stam DM, Guirado D (2013) Flux and polarization signals of spatially inhomogeneous gaseous exoplanets. Astron Astrophys 555. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321492
Karalidi T, Apai D, Schneider G, Hanson JR, Pasachoff JM (2015) Aeolus: a Markov Chain Monte Carlo code for mapping ultracool atmospheres. An application on Jupiter and brown dwarf HST light curves. Astrophys J 814(1):65. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/814/1/65
Kataria T, Showman AP, Fortney JJ, Stevenson KB, Line MR, Kreidberg L,... Désert J-M (2015). The atmospheric circulation of the hot jupiter wasp-43b: comparing three-dimensional models to spectrophotometric data. Astrophys J 801(2):86. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/801/2/86
Koskinen TT, Sandel BR, Yelle RV, Capalbo FJ, Holsclaw GM, McClintock WE, Edgington S (2013) The density and temperature structure near the exobase of Saturn from Cassini UVIS solar occultations. Icarus 226(2):1318–1330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.037
Koskinen TT, Moses JI, West RA, Guerlet S, Jouchoux A (2016) The detection of benzene in Saturn's upper atmosphere. Geophys Res Lett 43(15):7895–7901. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl070000
Levasseur-Regourd A-C, Renard J-B, Shkuratov YG, Hadamcik E (2015) Laboratory studies. In: Kolokolova L, Hough J, Levasseur-Regourd A-C (eds) Polarimetry of stars and planetary systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 62–80
Lin Z, Stamnes S, Jin Z, Laszlo I, Tsay SC, Wiscombe WJ, Stamnes K (2015) Improved discrete ordinate solutions in the presence of an anisotropically reflecting lower boundary: upgrades of the DISORT computational tool. J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 157:119–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2015.02.014
Line MR, Parmentier V (2016) The influence of nonuniform cloud cover on transit transmission spectra. Astrophys J 820(1):78. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/820/1/78
Lodders K, Fegley B (2002) Atmospheric chemistry in giant planets, brown dwarfs, and low-mass dwarf stars – I. Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Icarus 155(2):393–424. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.2001.6740
Madhusudhan N, Burrows A (2012) Analytic models for albedos, phase curves, and polarization of reflected light from exoplanets. Astrophys J 747(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/747/1/25
Mayorga LC, Jackiewicz J, Rages K, West RA, Knowles B, Lewis N, Marley MS (2016) JUPITER’S phase variations from cassini: a testbed for future direct-imaging missions. Astron J 152(6). https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/152/6/209
Miles-Páez PA, Zapatero Osorio MR, Pallé E, Ramírez KP (2013) Linear polarization of rapidly rotating ultracool dwarfs. Astron Astrophys 556. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201321851
Morley CV, Fortney JJ, Kempton EMR, Marley MS, Vissher C, Zahnle K (2013) Quantitatively assessing the role of clouds in the transmission spectrum of Gj 1214b. Astrophys J 775(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/775/1/33
Moses J (2000) Photochemistry of Saturn’s atmosphere I. Hydrocarbon chemistry and comparisons with ISO observations. Icarus 143(2):244–298. https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.1999.6270
Moses JI (2014) Chemical kinetics on extrasolar planets. Philos Trans R Soc Math Phys Eng Sci 372(2014). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2013.0073
Moses JI, Madhusudhan N, Visscher C, Freedman RS (2013) Chemical consequences of the c/o ratio on hot jupiters: examples from wasp-12b, corot-2b, xo-1b, and HD 189733b. Astrophys J 763(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/763/1/25
Muñoz O, Hovenier JW (2015) Experimental scattering matrices of clouds of randomly oriented particles. In: Kolokolova L, Hough J, Levasseur-Regourd A-C (eds) Polarimetry of stars and planetary systems. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 130–144
Parmentier V, Fortney JJ, Showman AP, Morley C, Marley MS (2016) Transitions in the cloud composition of hot Jupiters. Astrophys J 828(1):22. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/828/1/22
Perryman MAC (2014) The exoplanet handbook. (First paperback edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York
Petigura EA, Marcy GW (2011) Carbon and oxygen in nearby stars: keys to protoplanetary disk chemistry. Astrophys J 735(1):41. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/735/1/41
Pollack JB, Rages K, Baines KH, Bergstralh JT, Wenkert D, Danielson GE (1986) Estimates of the bolometric Albedos and radiation balance of Uranus and Neptune. Icarus 65(2–3):442–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(86)90147-8
Pope SK, Tomasko MG, Williams MS, Perry ML, Doose LR, Smith PH (1992) Clouds of ammonia ice – laboratory measurements of the single-scattering properties. Icarus 100(1):203–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(92)90030-b
Ragent B., Colburn DS, Rages KA, Knight TCD, Avrin P, Orton GS.,..., Grams GW (1998). The clouds of Jupiter: results of the Galileo Jupiter mission probe nephelometer experiment. J Geophys Res Planets 103(E10):22891–22909. https://doi.org/10.1029/98je00353
Rages K, Pollack JB, Smith PH (1983) Size estimates of titans aerosols based on Voyager high-phase-angle images. J Geophys Res Space Phys 88(Na11):8721–8728. https://doi.org/10.1029/JA088iA11p08721
Rages K, Pollack JB, Tomasko MG, Doose LR (1991) Properties of scatterers in the troposphere and lower stratosphere of Uranus based on voyager imaging data. Icarus 89(2):359–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(91)90183-T
Robinson TD, Maltagliati L, Marley MS, Fortney JJ (2014) Titan solar occultation observations reveal transit spectra of a hazy world. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(25):9042–9047. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1403473111
Rossow WB (1978) Cloud microphysics – analysis of clouds of Earth, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Icarus 36(1):1–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(78)90072-6
Sánchez-Lavega AN, Pérez-Hoyos S, Hueso R (2004) Clouds in planetary atmospheres: a useful application of the Clausius–Clapeyron equation. Am J Phys 72(6):767. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.1645279
Seager S (2010) Exoplanet atmospheres: physical processes. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Seager S, Dotson R (2010) Exoplanets. University of Arizona Press, Tucson
Shemansky DE, Liu X (2012) Saturn upper atmospheric structure from Cassini EUV and FUV occultations11This article is part of a special issue that honours the work of Dr. Donald M. Hunten FRSC who passed away in December 2010 after a very illustrious career. Can J Phys 90(8):817–831. https://doi.org/10.1139/p2012-036
Simon AA, Rowe JF, Gaulme P, Hammel HB, Casewell SL, Fortney JJ,..., Marley MS (2016) Neptune’s dynamic atmosphere from Kepler k2 observations: implications for brown dwarf light curve analyses. Astrophys J 817(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/817/2/162
Smith PH, Tomasko MG (1984) Photometry and polarimetry of Jupiter at large phase angles .2. Polarimetry of the south tropical zone, south equatorial belt, and the polar-regions from the Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11 missions. Icarus 58(1):35–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(84)90097-6
Spurr RJD (2006) VLIDORT: a linearized pseudo-spherical vector discrete ordinate radiative transfer code for forward model and retrieval studies in multilayer multiple scattering media. J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf 102(2):316–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2006.05.005
Sudarsky D, Burrows A, Hubeny I, Li AG (2005) Phase functions and light curves of wide-separation extrasolar giant planets. Astrophys J 627(1):520–533. https://doi.org/10.1086/430206
Tomasko MG, Doose LR (1984) Polarimetry and photometry of Saturn from Pioneer-11 – observations and constraints on the distribution and properties of cloud and aerosol-particles. Icarus 58(1):1–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(84)90096-4
Tomasko MG, West RA, Castillo ND (1978) Photometry and polarimetry of Jupiter at large phase angles .1. Analysis of imaging data of a prominent belt and a zone from Pioneer 10. Icarus 33(3):558–592. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(78)90191-4
Toon OB, Mckay CP, Ackerman TP, Santhanam K (1989) Rapid calculation of radiative heating rates and photodissociation rates in inhomogeneous multiple-scattering atmospheres. J Geophys Res-Atmos 94(D13):16287–16301
Visscher C, Lodders K, Fegley B (2006) Atmospheric chemistry in giant planets, brown dwarfs, and low-mass dwarf stars. II. Sulfur and phosphorus. Astrophys J 648(2):1181–1195. https://doi.org/10.1086/506245
Visscher C, Lodders K, Fegley B (2010) Atmospheric chemistry in giant planets, brown dwarfs, and low-mass dwarf stars. III. Iron, magnesium, and silicon. Astrophys J 716(2):1060–1075. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/716/2/1060
West RA (2000) Condensates in Jovian atmospheres. In: Griffith CA, Marley MS (eds) From giant planets to cool stars : proceedings of a workshop held at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 8–11 June 1999. Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco
West RA (2014) Atmospheres of the giant planets. In: Spohn T, Breuer D, Johnson TV (eds) Encyclopedia of the solar system, 3rd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 743–758
West RA, Smith PH (1991) Evidence for aggregate particles in the atmospheres of titan and JUPITER. Icarus 90(2):330–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(91)90113-8
West RA, Strobel DF, Tomasko MG (1986) Clouds, aerosols, and photochemistry in the Jovian atmosphere. Icarus 65(2–3):161–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(86)90135-1
West RA, Baines KH, Pollack JB (1991) Clouds and aerosols in the Uranian atmosphere. In: Bergstralh JT, Miner ED, Matthews MS (eds) Uranus. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp 296–326
West RA, Baines KH, Friedson AJ, Banfield D, Ragent B, Taylor FW (2004) Clouds and haze. In: Bagenal F, Dowling TE, McKinnon WB (eds) Jupiter : the planet, satellites, and magnetosphere. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 79–104
West RA, Baines KH, Karkoschka E, Sánchez-Lavega A (2009) Clouds and haze in Saturn’s atmosphere. In: Dougherty M, Esposito L, Krimigis SM (eds) Saturn from Cassini-Huygens. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 161–180
West RA, Yanamandra-Fisher PA, Korokhin V (2015) Gas giant planets, Saturn’s rings and Titan. In: Kolokolova L, Hough J, Levasseur-Regourd A-C (eds) Polarimetry of stars and planetary Systems. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp 320–339
Wong MH, Atreya SK, Kuhn WR, Romani PN, Mihalka KM (2015) Fresh clouds: a parameterized updraft method for calculating cloud densities in one-dimensional models. Icarus 245:273–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.09.042
Zahnle K, Marley MS, Morley CV, Moses JI (2016) Photolytic hazes in the atmosphere of 51 ERI B. Astrophys J 824(2). https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/824/2/137
Zapatero Osorio MR, Béjar VJS, Goldman B, Caballero JA, Rebolo R, Acosta-Pulido JA,..., Peña Ramirez K (2011) Near-infrared linear polarization of ultracool dwarfs. Astrophys J 740(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/740/1/4
Zhou Y, Apai D, Schneider GH, Marley MS, Showman AP (2016) Discovery of rotational modulations in the planetary-mass companion 2m1207b: intermediate rotation period and heterogeneous clouds in a low gravity atmosphere. Astrophys J 818(2):176. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/818/2/176
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG (outside the USA)
About this entry
Cite this entry
West, R.A. (2017). Temperature, Clouds, and Aerosols in Giant and Icy Planets. In: Deeg, H., Belmonte, J. (eds) Handbook of Exoplanets . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_49-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30648-3_49-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30648-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics