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 works in the Atmospheric Models & Plasma Simulations (AMPS) Laboratory and the Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Laboratory at Florida Tech. Current research topics include numerical modeling of atmospheric dynamics, cloud physics, and weather processes in planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets, giant planets, and exoplanets. A major focus of the group is the atmospheric response of planets, especially Jupiter and other giant planets, to high-energy external forcing, including large asteroid and comet impacts, extreme stellar wind variations (e.g., 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 perturbations in giant-planet atmospheres, using Jupiter as a natural laboratory for comparative impact physics. The group also examines how severe space-weather events and electrical discharges (e.g., lightning and transient luminous events) couple to atmospheric circulation, chemistry, and plasma environments. These efforts provide new insights into the formation and long-term evolution of the Solar System, the physical processes governing planetary atmospheres, and the interpretation of observations from past, current, and future planetary exploration missions.
The research program at Florida Tech focuses on the coupled evolution of planetary interiors, atmospheres, and climates from formation through maturity, spanning both Solar System planets and exoplanets. 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. A central goal of this work is to connect planetary formation pathways to present-day observables, enabling direct interpretation of spectra from facilities such as JWST and future flagship missions. Ongoing studies further investigate the atmospheric consequences of extreme stellar activity, including flares, coronal mass ejections, and energetic particle events, as well as impact-driven volatile exchange and climate perturbations across a wide range of planetary environments.
Faculty: Howard Chen, Manasvi Lingam, Csaba Palotai, and Hamid Rassoul