Next-generation climate model for planetary atmospheres

Two globes covered in pixelated patterns showing LFRic model output for a stretched-mesh simulation, set against a star-filled galaxy background. Faint lines of computer code are visible in the background.

I am leading the adaptation of LFRic, the Met Office’s next-generation model, to the atmospheres of exoplanets and solar system planets (at the moment focusing on Mars & ice giants).

In my 2023 study1, I showed that LFRic can reproduce a number of idealised climate scenarios for terrestrial exoplanets such as the Held-Suarez-like temperature forcing cases and the THAI benchmarks. I then focused on the impact of convection on the planetary climate in a global stretched-mesh simulation2. This work was the first application of a stretched-mesh global model to exoplanets and has a great potential for studying convection at a reduced computational cost.

Currently, I am working on adapting LFRic to hot Jupiters and sub-Neptunes, as well as the solar system ice giants.

1.
Sergeev, D. E., Mayne, N. J., Bendall, T., Boutle, I. A., Brown, A., Kavčič, I., Kent, J., Kohary, K., Manners, J., Melvin, T., Olivier, E., Ragta, L. K., Shipway, B., Wakelin, J., Wood, N. & Zerroukat, M. Simulations of idealised 3D atmospheric flows on terrestrial planets using LFRic-Atmosphere. Geoscientific Model Development 16, 5601–5626 (2023).
2.
Sergeev, D. E., Boutle, I. A., Lambert, F. H., Mayne, N. J., Bendall, T., Kohary, K., Olivier, E. & Shipway, B. The Impact of the Explicit Representation of Convection on the Climate of a Tidally Locked Planet in Global Stretched-mesh Simulations. The Astrophysical Journal 970, 7 (2024).