CARMApy: An Open-Source Python Framework for Simulating Microphysical Clouds in Planetary Atmospheres

Abstract

CARMApy is a new open-source python code that performs bin-scheme microphysical modeling of clouds in exoplanet atmospheres. It models key cloud properties such as particle size distributions and microphysical rates from first principles. The code is a wrapper of ExoCARMA, a well tested Fortran code with an almost half century long heritage. CARMApy includes the microphysical processes of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, condensational growth, evaporation, coagulation, and vertical transport. CARMApy has 10 built-in default condensates and allows the user to specify additional condensates. In this work we describe CARMApy and the data products that it can generate, along with the history of its code heritage. We additionally compile a complete description of the theory and methods used in CARMA. Lastly we benchmark CARMApy and show that its results are consistent with previous versions of CARMA, while executing the code ~1.9 times faster single threaded ~3.8 times faster multithreaded.