Planetary Atmospheres | Space Weather | Solar Wind | Comparative Planetology | Atmospheric Dynamics | Cloud Physics | Impact Event | Asteroid | Comets | Exoplanets | Space Plasma | Hybrid Model | MHD Model
The Planetary Science Research Group at Florida Institute of Technology conducts research on the physical and chemical processes that govern planetary atmospheres, climates, and plasma environments across the Solar System and beyond. The group operates primarily through the Atmospheric Models & Plasma Simulations (AMPS) Laboratory and the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Laboratory, integrating numerical modeling, theoretical analysis, and observational interpretation.
A central focus of the group is the numerical modeling of atmospheric dynamics, cloud physics, and weather processes in planetary atmospheres, including terrestrial planets, giant planets, and exoplanets. These studies address how large-scale circulation, radiative transfer, and microphysical processes shape observable atmospheric structure and variability. Solar System planets, particularly Jupiter and other giant planets, serve as natural laboratories for testing atmospheric physics under extreme conditions that are not accessible on Earth.
A major research theme is the atmospheric response of planets to high-energy external forcing. This includes the effects of large asteroid and comet impacts, extreme stellar wind variations such as interplanetary coronal mass ejections, and energetic particle precipitation. Ongoing and planned studies investigate how impact-generated shocks drive transient heating, aerosol formation, chemical disequilibrium, and long-lived radiative and dynamical perturbations in giant-planet atmospheres. Jupiter, with its well-observed impact history and active magnetospheric environment, provides a unique benchmark for comparative impact and space-weather physics.
The group also examines the coupling between atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and plasma processes during severe space-weather events and electrical phenomena, including lightning and transient luminous events. These processes conect planetary atmospheres to surrounding plasma environments and play an important role in regulating atmospheric composition, energy balance, and long-term evolution.
Beyond the Solar System, the research program extends to exoplanets, with an emphasis on the coupled evolution of planetary interiors, atmospheres, and climates from formation through maturity. Researchers develop state-of-the-art three-dimensional chemistry–climate models that incorporate volatile delivery during accretion, magma-ocean outgassing, atmospheric escape, and photochemical feedbacks under diverse stellar environments. These models are used to explore how planetary formation pathways and stellar activity histories shape present-day atmospheric states.
A key objective of this work is to connect physical processes to observable signatures, enabling direct interpretation of spectra and phase-curve measurements from current and future observatories, including JWST and upcoming flagship missions. By linking Solar System studies with exoplanet modeling, the Planetary Science Research Group at Florida Tech advances a comparative planetology approach that informs both planetary exploration and the search for habitable worlds.
Faculty: Howard Chen, Manasvi Lingam, Csaba Palotai, and Hamid Rassoul