Modelling the 3D climate of Venus with OASIS

Abstract

Flexible 3D models to explore the vast diversity of terrestrial planets and interpret observational data are still in their early stages. In this work, we present oasis: a novel and flexible 3D virtual planet laboratory. With oasis we envision a platform that couples self-consistently seven individual modules representing the main physical and chemical processes that shape planetary environments. Additionally, oasis is capable of producing simulated spectra from different instruments and observational techniques. In this work, we focus on the benchmark test of coupling four of the physical modules: fluid dynamics, radiation, turbulence, and surface/soil. To test the oasis platform, we produced 3D simulations of the Venus climate and its atmospheric circulation and study how the modelled atmosphere changes with various cloud covers, atmospheric heat capacity, and surface friction. 3D simulations of Venus are challenging because they require long integration times with a computationally expensive radiative transfer code. By comparing oasis results with observational data, we verify that the new model is able to successfully simulate Venus. With simulated spectra produced directly from the 3D simulations, we explore the capabilities of future missions, like LUVOIR, to observe Venus analogues located at a distance of 10 pc. With oasis, we have taken the first steps to build a sophisticated and very flexible platform capable of studying the environment of terrestrial planets, which will be an essential tool to characterize observed terrestrial planets and plan future observations.

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Identifiers

ORCID for João M. Mendonça: orcid.org/0000-0002-6907-4476

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