Exoplanet clouds and atmospheric haze add scattering and absorption opacity to an exoplanet transmission spectrum. A high opaque deck truncates the slant path and mutes molecular bands, while small aerosol particles can produce a blue scattering slope; patchiness creates mixtures of clear and cloudy limbs. In an exoplanet emission spectrum, aerosols move the photosphere to lower pressure, weaken or reshape molecular features, alter the geometric albedo, and can heat or cool layers depending on their shortwave and longwave absorption.
Observed aspects of exoplanet atmospheric dynamics include eastward equatorial atmospheric superrotation inferred from shifted thermal hot spots, day-night heat transport measured by phase-curve amplitude, and high-altitude winds measured from Doppler shifts of resolved spectral lines. Time-variable phase curves and eclipse maps also reveal changing cloud patterns and storms.
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