Task 2: The Climate Model

In Task 2, we combine the radiative transfer model from Task 1 with a climate model. Combine 1-D Radiative Convective Equilibrium model (vertical fluxes) with a 1-D Energy Balance model (horizontal fluxes). The planetary temperature distribution (and emitted spectrum) is now in thermal equilibrium with the specified atmospheric composition

With this task, we will determine how well the environment of an extrasolar planet can be simulated with a simple, efficient climate model. To test this we will: Generate spatially-resolved temperature distributions for Venus, Earth and Mars, which will be compared with available observations. Compare the spectra generated by this Task with those derived in Task 1 (which were generated using measured T profiles) to determine how well the climate model can simulate disk-integrated planetary spectra.

Q: How close does the 1-D climate model simulate to the disk- integrated spectra obtained in Task1?

Task 2 Highlights to Date: Progress this year included the integration of generalized and computationally improved radiative, convective and conductive transport algorithms into the existing climate model to increase computational speed. The resultant model was used to produce annual cycles of soil and atmospheric temperature for a Mars-like planet.

Task 2 Results