Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets
A key factor in determining the potential habitability of synchronously rotating planets is the strength of the atmospheric boundary layer inversion between the dark side surface and the free atmosphere. Here we analyse data obtained from polar night measurements at the South Pole and Alert Canada,...
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ftuniveastangl:oai:ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk:74524 2023-05-15T18:02:13+02:00 Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets Joshi, Manoj Elvidge, Andrew Wordsworth, Robin Sergeev, Denis 2020-04-03 application/pdf https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/1/Accepted_Manuscript.pdf https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 en eng https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/1/Accepted_Manuscript.pdf Joshi, Manoj, Elvidge, Andrew, Wordsworth, Robin and Sergeev, Denis (2020) Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 892 (2). ISSN 2041-8205 doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftuniveastangl https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 2023-01-30T21:52:09Z A key factor in determining the potential habitability of synchronously rotating planets is the strength of the atmospheric boundary layer inversion between the dark side surface and the free atmosphere. Here we analyse data obtained from polar night measurements at the South Pole and Alert Canada, which are the closest analogues on Earth to conditions on the dark sides of synchronously rotating exoplanets without and with a maritime influence, respectively. On Earth, such inversions rarely exceed 30 K in strength, because of the effect of turbulent mixing induced by phenomena such as so-called mesoscale slope winds, which have horizontal scales of 10s to 100s of km, suggesting a similar constraint to near-surface dark side inversions. We discuss the sensitivity of inversion strength to factors such as orography and the global-scale circulation, and compare them to a simulation of the planet Proxima Centauri b. Our results demonstrate the importance of comparisons with Earth data in exoplanet research, and highlight the need for further studies of the exoplanet atmospheric collapse problem using mesoscale and eddy-resolving models. Article in Journal/Newspaper polar night South pole University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository Canada South Pole The Astrophysical Journal 892 2 L33 |
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University of East Anglia: UEA Digital Repository |
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ftuniveastangl |
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English |
description |
A key factor in determining the potential habitability of synchronously rotating planets is the strength of the atmospheric boundary layer inversion between the dark side surface and the free atmosphere. Here we analyse data obtained from polar night measurements at the South Pole and Alert Canada, which are the closest analogues on Earth to conditions on the dark sides of synchronously rotating exoplanets without and with a maritime influence, respectively. On Earth, such inversions rarely exceed 30 K in strength, because of the effect of turbulent mixing induced by phenomena such as so-called mesoscale slope winds, which have horizontal scales of 10s to 100s of km, suggesting a similar constraint to near-surface dark side inversions. We discuss the sensitivity of inversion strength to factors such as orography and the global-scale circulation, and compare them to a simulation of the planet Proxima Centauri b. Our results demonstrate the importance of comparisons with Earth data in exoplanet research, and highlight the need for further studies of the exoplanet atmospheric collapse problem using mesoscale and eddy-resolving models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Joshi, Manoj Elvidge, Andrew Wordsworth, Robin Sergeev, Denis |
spellingShingle |
Joshi, Manoj Elvidge, Andrew Wordsworth, Robin Sergeev, Denis Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
author_facet |
Joshi, Manoj Elvidge, Andrew Wordsworth, Robin Sergeev, Denis |
author_sort |
Joshi, Manoj |
title |
Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
title_short |
Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
title_full |
Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
title_fullStr |
Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
title_sort |
earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/ https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/1/Accepted_Manuscript.pdf https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 |
geographic |
Canada South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Canada South Pole |
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polar night South pole |
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polar night South pole |
op_relation |
https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74524/1/Accepted_Manuscript.pdf Joshi, Manoj, Elvidge, Andrew, Wordsworth, Robin and Sergeev, Denis (2020) Earth’s polar night boundary layer as an analogue for dark side inversions on synchronously rotating terrestrial exoplanets. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 892 (2). ISSN 2041-8205 doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab7fb3 |
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The Astrophysical Journal |
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892 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
L33 |
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1766172000424820736 |