The coupled impacts of atmospheric dynamics and cloud microphysics on hot Jupiter atmospheres. I. An application to WASP-43b
Abstract
Understanding the influence of cloud-circulation feedback on planetary climates is crucial to interpreting solar system and extrasolar planet observations. Hot Jupiter phase curve observations have reported westward optical phase curve offsets and weak absorption features, which may be explained by the presence of clouds. JWST observations have also revealed tentative silicate cloud absorption features in emission and transmission spectroscopy. While a number of 3D atmospheric dynamics models of hot Jupiters and microphysical models describing cloud formation exist, few combine these two approaches. To help elucidate the impact of clouds on hot Jupiters, we introduce a post-processing scheme with the 3D GCM ADAM with SPARC (formerly SPARC/MITgcm), the 1D microphysical cloud model CARMA, and the radiative transfer code PICASO. We first simulate the cloud-free atmosphere of WASP-43b with ADAM, then incorporate resulting thermal profiles into CARMA to simulate WASP-43b's cloud structure, and finally generate phase-dependent emission spectra from our results with PICASO. By comparing to JWST observations, we infer that WASP-43b has a cloudy nightside, a mostly clear morning and evening limb with patchy clouds, and a clear dayside at the level of the photosphere. Our microphysical model predicts the condensation of five cloud species, including silicates, but overestimates the cloud opacity at all phases compared to observations, requiring additional modeling to explain. The results from this post-processing setup are promising for more meaningful characterization of WASP-43b's atmosphere, and will serve as a comparison baseline for our upcoming indirect coupling of both models, as well as for other future studies.
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BibTeX
@misc{fromont2026coupled,
title = {{The coupled impacts of atmospheric dynamics and cloud microphysics on hot Jupiter atmospheres. I. An application to WASP-43b}},
author = {Emeline F. Fromont and Thaddeus D. Komacek and Peter Gao and Hayley Q. Beltz and Sarah E. Moran and Arjun B. Savel and Julia Cottingham and Isaac Malsky and Diana Powell and Xianyu Tan and Eliza M. -R. Kempton and Vivien Parmentier},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.30243},
eprint = {2610.30243},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30243},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The coupled impacts of atmospheric dynamics and cloud microphysics on hot Jupiter atmospheres. I. An application to WASP-43b
AU - Emeline F. Fromont
AU - Thaddeus D. Komacek
AU - Peter Gao
AU - Hayley Q. Beltz
AU - Sarah E. Moran
AU - Arjun B. Savel
AU - Julia Cottingham
AU - Isaac Malsky
AU - Diana Powell
AU - Xianyu Tan
AU - Eliza M. -R. Kempton
AU - Vivien Parmentier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.30243
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.30243
AB - Understanding the influence of cloud-circulation feedback on planetary climates is crucial to interpreting solar system and extrasolar planet observations. Hot Jupiter phase curve observations have reported westward optical phase curve offsets and weak absorption features, which may be explained by the presence of clouds. JWST observations have also revealed tentative silicate cloud absorption features in emission and transmission spectroscopy. While a number of 3D atmospheric dynamics models of hot Jupiters and microphysical models describing cloud formation exist, few combine these two approaches. To help elucidate the impact of clouds on hot Jupiters, we introduce a post-processing scheme with the 3D GCM ADAM with SPARC (formerly SPARC/MITgcm), the 1D microphysical cloud model CARMA, and the radiative transfer code PICASO. We first simulate the cloud-free atmosphere of WASP-43b with ADAM, then incorporate resulting thermal profiles into CARMA to simulate WASP-43b's cloud structure, and finally generate phase-dependent emission spectra from our results with PICASO. By comparing to JWST observations, we infer that WASP-43b has a cloudy nightside, a mostly clear morning and evening limb with patchy clouds, and a clear dayside at the level of the photosphere. Our microphysical model predicts the condensation of five cloud species, including silicates, but overestimates the cloud opacity at all phases compared to observations, requiring additional modeling to explain. The results from this post-processing setup are promising for more meaningful characterization of WASP-43b's atmosphere, and will serve as a comparison baseline for our upcoming indirect coupling of both models, as well as for other future studies.
ER -