Publication Abstracts

Fauchez et al. 2022

Fauchez, T.J., G.L. Villanueva, D.E. Sergeev, M. Turbet, I.A. Boutle, K. Tsigaridis, M.J. Way, E.T. Wolf, S.D. Domagal-Goldman, F. Forget, J. Haqq-Misra, R.K. Kopparapu, J. Manners, and N.J. Mayne, 2022: The TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI). Part III: Simulated observables — The return of the spectrum. Planet. Sci. J., 3, no. 9, 213, doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac6cf1.

The TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI) is a community project that aims to quantify how differences in general circulation models (GCMs) could impact the climate prediction for TRAPPIST-1e and, subsequently, its atmospheric characterization in transit. Four GCMs have participated in THAI: ExoCAM, LMD-Generic, ROCKE-3D, and the UM. This paper, focused on the simulated observations, is the third part of a trilogy, following the analysis of two land planet scenarios (Part I) and two aquaplanet scenarios (Part II). Here we show a robust agreement between the simulated spectra and the number of transits estimated to detect the land planet atmospheres. For the cloudy aquaplanet ones, a 5σ detection of CO2 could be achieved in about 10 transits if the atmosphere contains at least 1 bar of CO2. That number can vary by 41%-56% depending on the GCM used to predict the terminator profiles, principally due to differences in the cloud deck altitude, with ExoCAM and LMD-G producing higher clouds than ROCKE-3D and UM. Therefore, for the first time, this work provides "GCM uncertainty error bars" of ∼50% that need to be considered in future analyses of transmission spectra. We also analyzed the intertransit spectral variability. Its magnitude differs significantly between the GCMs, but its impact on the transmission spectra is within the measurement uncertainties. THAI has demonstrated the importance of model intercomparison for exoplanets and also paved the way for a larger project to develop an intercomparison meta-framework, namely, the Climates Using Interactive Suites of Intercomparisons Nested for Exoplanet Studies.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{fa08100s,
  author={Fauchez, T. J. and Villanueva, G. L. and Sergeev, D. E. and Turbet, M. and Boutle, I. A. and Tsigaridis, K. and Way, M. J. and Wolf, E. T. and Domagal-Goldman, S. D. and Forget, F. and Haqq-Misra, J. and Kopparapu, R. K. and Manners, J. and Mayne, N. J.},
  title={The TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI). Part III: Simulated observables — The return of the spectrum},
  year={2022},
  journal={Planetary Science Journal},
  volume={3},
  number={9},
  pages={213},
  doi={10.3847/PSJ/ac6cf1},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - fa08100s
AU  - Fauchez, T. J.
AU  - Villanueva, G. L.
AU  - Sergeev, D. E.
AU  - Turbet, M.
AU  - Boutle, I. A.
AU  - Tsigaridis, K.
AU  - Way, M. J.
AU  - Wolf, E. T.
AU  - Domagal-Goldman, S. D.
AU  - Forget, F.
AU  - Haqq-Misra, J.
AU  - Kopparapu, R. K.
AU  - Manners, J.
AU  - Mayne, N. J.
PY  - 2022
TI  - The TRAPPIST-1 Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI). Part III: Simulated observables — The return of the spectrum
JA  - Planet. Sci. J.
JO  - Planetary Science Journal
VL  - 3
IS  - 9
SP  - 213
DO  - 10.3847/PSJ/ac6cf1
ER  -

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