| En
Maxence Lefevre
+33 1 44273865
maxence.lefevre@latmos.ipsl.fr
I am a planetary scientist currently Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow under the grant agreement 101110489/MuSICA-V at LATMOS in the Solar System team, studying the Venus atmosphere for the future EnVision mission.
If you want to collaborate, don't hesitate to contact me or the team
Positions
2023-2025 Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctotal Research Assistant, LATMOS
Venus Climate Theory and Simulation
2022-2023 CNES Postdoctotal Research Assistant, LATMOS
Venus Climate Theory and Simulation
2018-2022 Postdoctotal Research Assistant, AOPP, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Exoplanet Climate Theory and Simulation
2015-2018 Ph.D., LMD, Sorbonne Université , Paris, FRANCE
Subject : Small scale Modeling of the atmosphere of Venus : Convection and gravity waves
Supervisors : Sébastien LEBONNOIS and Aymeric SPIGA
Research
My research is the study of the interactions between the dynamics and chemistry in the atmosphere on various bodies, into the solar system and beyond. I am especially interested in small-scale atmospheric phenomena: convection, waves and instabilities.
To pursue these investigations, I am using numerical modelling to simulate the dynamics of the atmosphere. For global-scale modelling I use the Planetary Climate Model (PCM) able to reproduce Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan and exoplanets atmospheric dynamics.
For small-scale studies, I am developing a mesoscale/LES model for Venus and Exoplanets based on WRF dynamical core and PCM physics.
Venus
Venus is the closest planet to Earth. Despite a similar size and mass, there are differences between the two planets. At the surface, the temperature can reach 730 K with a pressure of 90 bar. Venus hosts a global cloud layer between 45 and 70 km, with pressure and temperature conditions close to Earth’s stratosphere. Like on Earth, there is the presence of a water cycle, however, the sulphur cycle dominates in the atmosphere with sulphuric acid as the major cloud particle. This global cloud layer plays a key role in the radiative equilibrium of the atmosphere.
From 2006 to 2014, ESA’s Venus Express, a landmark in Venus exploration, answered many questions about
our nearest planetary neighbour. Focussed on atmospheric research, some of the enigmatic results from Venus Express nonetheless concerned its surface: hints of current volcanic activity including a tenfold change in mesospheric sulphur dioxide, anomalously dark lava surrounding volcanoes, and surface temperature changes, all pointed towards a geologically active planet. Akatsuki provided precious data to assess the long-term variation of wind, temperature and chemical abundance in the upper cloud.
The next decade will be exciting, with the ESA Mission EnVision, and two NASA missions, DAVINCI and VERITAS. EnVision will determine the nature and current state of Venus’ geological evolution and its relationship with the atmosphere, to understand how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently. The UV spectrometer of the VenSpec suite is developed at LATMOS.
I am developing the PCM and mesoscale models to study the interaction between the atmospheric dynamics and chemistry from the surface to the clouds, focusing on turbulent activity, volcanism and sediment transport.
Titan
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is characterized by its thick atmosphere whose surface pressure is similar to the Earth's. Titan's weather is particularly active at all spatial scales: global (e.g., super-rotating winds), intermediate / mesoscale (e.g., convective thunderstorms, air-sea circulations), local (e.g., turbulence in the planetary boundary layer, the atmospheric layer in direct contact with the surface).
The knowledge of Titan's atmosphere has been deeply renewed by the various fly-bys of the Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2017 and the landing of the Huygens probe in 2004. It is now well-known that Titan is characterized by a methane cycle akin to the hydrological cycle on Earth, with methane and hydrocarbons lakes, clouds, storms and precipitations. The seasonal cycle of Titan is pronounced and leads to global transport of volatiles and aerosols, and overturning wind circulations. On smaller scales, turbulence near the surface of Titan is potentially strong in daytime. The aeolian environment of Titan is active, with a fifth of Titan's surface being covered by dunes fields and the organic dust particles at the surface being potentially transported by wind circulations at all scales.
The next milestone of the exploration of Titan is known: the Dragonfly mission, reaching Titan in 2034, will consist in flying a quadcopter within the atmosphere of Titan to visit the Selk impact crater structure in the dark Shangri-La region, whose peculiar morphology probably involves two distinct wind regimes that remain to be understood.
I am developing a mesoscale model to study the impact of surface characteristics like elevation, albedo or thermal inertia, on the dynamics of surface winds, to assess the transport of sediment.
Publications
Garcia, R. F., I. van Zelst, T. Kawamura, S. P. Näsholm, A. Horleston, S. Klaasen, M. Lefèvre, C. M. Solberg, K. T. Smolinski, A.-C. Plesa, Q. Brissaud, J. S. Maia, S. C. Stähler, P. Lognonné, M. Panning, A. Gülcher, R. Ghail, and B. De Toffoli. Seismic wave detectability on Venus using ground deformation sensors, infrasound sensors on balloons and airglow imagers Earth and Space Science, 11, e2024EA003670. (2024)
[ Journal website | ADS link ]
T. Encrenaz, T. K. Greathouse, R. Giles, T. Widemann, B. Bézard, F. Lefèvre, M. Lefèvre, W. Shao, H. Sagawa, E. Marcq and A. Arredondo. Stringent upper limits of minor species at the cloud top of Venus: PH3, HCN, and NH3 Astronomy & Astrophysics, 690, A304. (2024)
[ Journal website | ADS link ]
J. Leconte, A. Spiga, N. Clément, S. Guerlet, F. Selsis, G. Milcareck, T. Cavalié, R. Moreno, E. Lellouch, Ó. Carrión-González, B. Charnay and M. Lefèvre. A 3D picture of moist-convection inhibition in hydrogen-rich atmospheres: Implications for K2-18 b Astronomy & Astrophysics, 686, A131. (2024)
[ Journal website | ADS link | arXiv ]
M. Lefèvre, F. Lefèvre, E. Marcq, A. Määttänen, A. Stolzenbach and N. Streel. Impact of the Turbulent Vertical Mixing on Chemical and Cloud Species in the Venus Cloud Layer Geophysical Research Letters, 86, 115148. (2024)
[ Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
C. Gillmann, G. Arney, G. Avice, M. Dyer, G. Golabek, A. Gulcher, N. Johnson, M. Lefèvre and T. Widemann. Venus Treatise on Geochemistry (Third Edition), Volume 7, 289-323. (2025)
[ Journal website | arXiv ]
C. Wilson, E. Marcq, C. Gillmann, T. Widemann, O. Korablev, N. Mueller, M. Lefèvre, P. Rimmer, S. Robert, M. Zolotov and T. Widemann. Possible Effects of Volcanic Eruptions on the Modern Atmosphere of Venus Space Science Reviews, Chapter part of Venus: Evolution Through Time collection, 220, 31. (2024)
[ Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
E. Marcq, B. Bézard, J.-M. Reess, F. Henry, S. Érard, S. Robert, F. Montmessin, F. Lefèvre, M. Lefèvre, A. Stolzenbach, J.-L. Bertaux, G. Piccioni, and P. Drossart. Minor species in Venus’ night side troposphere as observed by VIRTIS-H/Venus Express Icarus, 405, 115714. (2023)
[ Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
T. Encrenaz, T. K. Greathouse, R. Giles, T. Widemann, B. Bézard, M. Lefèvre, and W. Shao. HDO and SO2 Thermal mapping on Venus. VI. An anomalous SO2 behavior during Autumn 2021 Astronomy & Astrophysics, 674, A199. (2023)
[ Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, X. Tan, E. Lee, and R. T. Pierrehumbert. Cloud-convection feedback in brown dwarfs atmosphere The Astrophysical Journal, 929, 153. (2022)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, E. Marcq, and F. Lefèvre. The Impact of Turbulent Vertical Mixing in the Venus Clouds on Chemical Tracers Icarus, 86, 115148. (2022)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre Venus boundary layer dynamics: eolian transport and convective vortex Icarus, 387, 115167. (2022)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, M. Turbet, and R. T. Pierrehumbert. 3D cloud-convection model of temperate, tidally-locked exoplanets The Astrophysical Journal, 913, 101. (2021)
[ PDF version | arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
X. Tan, M. Lefèvre, and R. T. Pierrehumbert. Convection Modeling of Pure-steam Atmospheres The Astrophysical Journal Letters,923, L15. (2021)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
G. Mahapatra, M. Lefèvre, L. Rossi, A. Spiga, and D. M. Stam. Polarimetry as a tool for observing orographic gravity waves on Venus The Planetary Science Journal, 2(3):96. (2021)
[ Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
J. E. Silva, P. Machado, J. Peralta, F. Brasil, S. Lebonnois, and M. Lefèvre Characterising atmospheric gravity waves on the nightside lower clouds of Venus: a systematic analysis Astronomy & Astrophysics, 649, A34. (2021)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
T. Fauchez, et al. TRAPPIST Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparaison (THAI) workshop report Planetary Science Journal., 2(3):106. (2021)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, A. Spiga, and S. Lebonnois. Mesoscale modeling of Venus' bow-shape waves Icarus, 335-113376. (2019)
[ PDF version | arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, S. Lebonnois, and A. Spiga. Three-dimensional turbulence-resolving modeling of the Venusian cloud layer and induced gravity waves: inclusion of complete radiative transfer and wind shear Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets), 123. (2018)
[ PDF version | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
O. Venot, Y. Bénilan, N. Fray,M.-C. Gazeau, F. Lefèvre, Et. Es-sebbar, E. Hébrard, M. Schwell, C. Bahrini, F. Montmessin, M. Lefèvre, and I. P. Waldmann.VUV-absorption cross section of carbon dioxide from 150 to 800 K and applications to warm exoplanetary atmospheres Astronomy & Astrophysics, 609:a34. (2018)
[ arXiv | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
M. Lefèvre, A. Spiga, and S. Lebonnois. Three-dimensional turbulence-resolving modeling of the Venusian cloud layer and induced gravity waves Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets), 122:134--149. (2017)
[ PDF version | Journal website | ADS link | Bibtex entry ]
