Semi-Transparent Shear Turbulence in Hot Jupiter Atmospheres

TL;DR

This study investigates how secular shear instabilities cause turbulent vertical mixing in hot Jupiter atmospheres, highlighting the temperature dependence and uncertainties in mixing strength, with implications for atmospheric structure and chemistry.

Contribution

We evaluate the theoretical uncertainties of vertical mixing due to shear turbulence in hot Jupiters and identify temperature thresholds for enhanced mixing.

Findings

Cooler hot Jupiters like HD189733b show no enhanced mixing.

Hotter planets like Kepler7b exhibit significant vertical mixing on daysides.

Vertical mixing can vary greatly between day and night sides, up to an order of magnitude.

Abstract

Turbulent transport driven by secular shear instabilities can lead to enhanced vertical mixing in hot Jupiter atmospheres, impacting their cloudiness, chemistry and overall vertical structure. We discuss the turbulent regime expected and evaluate theoretical uncertainties on the strength of the vertical mixing (i.e, $K_{\rm zz}$ values). We focus our work on three well-studied hot Jupiters with a hierarchy of atmospheric temperatures: HD189733b ($T_{\rm eq} \simeq 1200$K), HD209458b ($T_{\rm eq} \simeq 1450$K) and Kepler7b ($T_{\rm eq} \simeq 1630$K). $K_{\rm zz}$ uncertainties are large. They are dominated by i) the poorly understood magnitude of turbulent transport and ii) the semi-transparent nature of shear turbulence near the planetary photosphere. Using a specific Moore-Spiegel instability threshold, we infer that the cooler HD189733b is not subject to enhanced mixing from semi-transparent shear turbulence while the daysides of the hotter Kepler7b and (marginally so) HD209458b are. Enhanced vertical mixing is generally expected to manifest on hot enough exoplanets, with $T_{\rm eq} > 1500-1600$K. On a given planet, day and night $K_{\rm zz}$ profiles can differ by an order of magnitude or more. Vertical mixing is slightly favoured in equatorial regions, where the atmospheric zonal shear is strongest. In all three planetary cases studied, momentum feedback on the atmospheric mean flow is minor to negligible.