Giant planet interiors and atmospheres

TL;DR

This review summarizes current knowledge on the interiors and atmospheres of giant planets, highlighting their structure, composition, and the link between deep interiors and atmospheres, crucial for understanding planetary formation and exoplanets.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the models, compositions, and internal structures of giant planets, and discusses future challenges in planetary interior research.

Findings

Current models of giant planet interiors and atmospheres

Understanding of planetary composition and structure

Identification of future research challenges

Abstract

Studying the interiors of the outer planets is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of our planetary system, and provides key knowledge on the origin of the solar system, the behavior of materials at extreme conditions, the relation between the planetary interior and atmosphere, and exoplanet characterization. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the interiors and atmospheres of the giant planets in the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. We describe the principles of interior structure and evolution models and discuss the link between the planetary atmospheres and deep interiors. We summarize the current understanding of the bulk compositions and internal structures of the outer planets and the remaining future challenges.