Lifting the Veil of Hazes on Planetary Atmospheres through Modeling and Observation

ERIC WOLF, University of Colorado

     Abstract Number: 441
     Working Group: Planetary Aerosols: From Earth to Exoplanets

Abstract
Aerosols of many flavors are common in our Solar System and are believed to be common across the Universe. Aerosols on Venus, Earth, Mars, Titan, Pluto, gas giants, and ice giants are well known, and recent observations hint at the ubiquity of clouds and hazes across the exoplanet population. Aerosols not only have significant effects on planetary climate through both direct and indirect radiative effects, they also have an outsized effect on observations. Notably, high altitude hazes obfuscate spectral signals, making detection and characterization of the gas composition of the underlying atmosphere significantly more challenging. The diverse nature of aerosols across the planetary population means that a single prescription of their effects is not possible. The large-scale effects of aerosols are intricately intertwined with their source regions, the general circulation, the incident stellar energy, and the specific radiative properties of the aerosol particles. The aerosol radiative properties themselves are heavily influenced by material composition and shape. A full understanding of aerosols in planetary atmospheres is a complex coupled problem. In this talk, I discuss the current thought on aerosols in the context of planetary atmospheres with a focus on progress made in modeling and observation. Particular interest is given to interpretations of exoplanet observations, current and future. All roads to exoplanet characterization lead through the haze, not despite of it.