Simulations and Observation of Uranus and Neptune atmospheric Dynamics (SOUND)

Overview of the project

Keywords: convective processes, zonal jet formation, meridional circulation, thermal structure, methane cycle, troposphere-stratosphere interactions that take place on the ice giants.

Methods: This project focuses on Uranus and Neptune's atmospheres by combining observation and modelling tools:

  • We aim at characterizing Uranus and Neptune stratospheric temperatures and winds by exploiting (sub)-millimetric observations;
  • We perform numerical experiments of Uranus and Neptune upper tropospheric and stratospheric dynamics with two models developed in parallel: 1) a mesoscale model explicitely resolving small-scale convection processes to investigate the ice giant intermittent storm activity and 2) a general circulation model at global scale to investigate jet formation, wave activity, seasonal forcing, etc. The dynamical core differs (WRF in the first case, DYNAMICO in the second case), but most physics packages (radiative transfer, ...) are in common.

People: Collaboration between three research teams at the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique (LMD), the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB) and the LESIA/Observatoire de Paris :

  • Sandrine Guerlet, CNRS researcher at LMD
  • Aymeric Spiga, assistant professor at Sorbonne Université and researcher at LMD
  • Gwenaël Milcareck, PhD student at LMD/LATMOS
  • Ehouarn Millour, research engineer, LMD
  • Jérémy Leconte, CNRS researcher at LAB
  • Noé Clément, PhD student at LAB
  • Thibault Cavalié, CNRS researcher at LAB
  • Emmanuel Lellouch, Astronomer at LESIA
  • Raphaël Moreno at LESIA
  • Oscar Carrion-Gonzalez, postdoctoral researcher at LESIA

News:

  • Results presented at the latest EPSC conference by Gwenaël Milcareck and Noé Clément in Granada: see here and here
  • We are hiring a postdoctoral researcher at LMD! See job description here.

Funding

ANR, "Programme de Recherche Collaborative", 2021-2025 (ANR-20-CE49-0009).