Atmospheric Modelling

Understanding the physics and chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres relies on advanced numerical modeling and simulation. As atmopsheres are complex systems, these models include components from many complementary areas of physics: radiative transfer, thermodynamics, chemistry, fluids, and orbital dynamics. Sucessfully combining these allows us to capture the wide diversity of atmospheric behaviors found beyond the Solar System. By coupling these models with observational data from cutting-edge telescopes, we seek to identify the key physical and chemical processes that shape exoplanet climates, from hot Jupiters with extreme irradiation to temperate terrestrial worlds.

A central aspect of our work involves integrating modeling into atmospheric retrieval frameworks — the inverse methods that connect observed spectra to atmospheric properties. By improving the physical realism of these models and testing the assumptions underlying retrieval techniques, we aim to enhance the accuracy and interpretability of inferred parameters such as temperature structures, molecular abundances, and cloud properties. This synergy between forward modeling and retrieval analysis ensures that our interpretations of exoplanet atmospheres are both rigorous and physically sound. At ExoAIM, we often combine information-oriented approaches (driven mainly by the data and using less physical assumptions) to state-of-the-art self-consistent modeling approaches (using physically motivated models) to test our level of understanding of exo-atmospheric physics.

Beyond data-driven modeling, our group also investigates more fundamental and theoretical aspects. We model dynamics and radiative processes that govern atmospheric behavior from first principles. For instance, in recent works, we utilized idealized (but powerful) mathematical frameworks — such as the primitive equations or the shallow-water equations - to study the large-scale circulation patterns of exo-atmospheres under stellar forcing. These theoretical studies allow to probe how rotation, irradiation, and internal waves shape the global planetary flows. Importantly, we conduct these numerical explorations using high spacio-temporal resolutions (10-50 km grids with seconds timesteps) to resolve the shortest relevant scales. In parallel, we work on radiative transfer and energy balance aspects to explore how radiation interacts with complex atmospheric chemistry. Together, these studies advance both the theoretical and applied understanding of exoplanetary atmospheres, providing the foundation for interpreting the next generation of observations.