The CUISINES 2024 menu: Updates and progress on a large exoplanet model intercomparison framework

The exoplanet community possesses an incredible variety of models to match the astronomical diversity of exoplanets. Those models are used to either predict or interpret exoplanet data. However, contrary to Earth science, we have no existing ground truth to validate those models. Meanwhile, we would still learn a lot from benchmarking exoplanet models together to increase the robustness in our data prediction and interpretation, to identify bugs and to highlight model features that would require additional developments.

The Climates Using Interactive Suites of Intercomparisons Nested for Exoplanet Studies (CUISINES) Working Group of NASA’s Nexus for Exoplanet Systems Science (NExSS) supports a systematized approach to evaluating the performance of exoplanet models, and provides here a framework for conducting community-organized exoplanet Model Intercomparison Projects (exoMIPs). The CUISINES framework adapts Earth climate community practices specifically for the needs of the exoplanet researchers, encompassing a range of model types, planetary targets, and parameter space studies. 

In this presentation, we will give updates on the various exoMIPs and we will provide insights on our findings to make an exoplanet model intercomparison a success on short and long timescales.