fwl-proteus 25.5.20

Coupled atmosphere-interior framework to simulate the temporal evolution of rocky planets

PROTEUS Framework for Planetary Evolution

PROTEUS (/ˈproʊtiəs, PROH-tee-əs) is a modular Python framework that simulates the coupled evolution of the atmospheres and interiors of rocky planets and exoplanets. Inspired by the Greek god of elusive sea change, who could change his form at will, PROTEUS is designed to be flexible and adaptable to a wide range of planetary environments. It can foretell the future, but answers only to those who are capable of asking the right questions.

Installation & run instructions

See the installation guide and usage guide for initial steps and troubleshooting advice. Only attempt to run PROTEUS after you have followed all of the installation instructions.

Contributors

Name	Email address
Tim Lichtenberg	tim.lichtenberg[at]rug.nl
Harrison Nicholls	harrison.nicholls[at]physics.ox.ac.uk
Laurent Soucasse	l.soucasse[at]esciencecenter.nl
Mariana Sastre	m.c.villamil.sastre[at]rug.nl
Emma Postolec	e.n.postolec[at]rug.nl
Dan J. Bower	dbower[at]ethz.ch
Mark Hammond	mark.hammond[at]physics.ox.ac.uk
Stef Smeets	s.smeets[at]esciencecenter.nl
Raymond Pierrehumbert	raymond.pierrehumbert[at]physics.ox.ac.uk

Repository structure

Object	Description
README.md	Overview file
pyproject.toml	Project configuration file
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	Project code of conduct
LICENSE.txt	Project license
src/proteus	Source code for PROTEUS
output/	Output folder with subfolders for each model run
input/	Example configuration files for running the model
docs/	Documentation source files
examples/	Example cases that the model should be able to reproduce
tests/	Unit tests for the code
tools/	Tools for setting up the environment

Citation

If you make use of PROTEUS, please reference the following papers, and state the code version used. The code version can be found in the pyproject.toml file.

@ARTICLE{Nicholls_2025_MNRAS,
       author = {{Nicholls}, Harrison and {Pierrehumbert}, Raymond T. and {Lichtenberg}, Tim and {Soucasse}, Laurent and {Smeets}, Stef},
        title = "{Convective shutdown in the atmospheres of lava worlds}",
      journal = {\mnras},
     keywords = {Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics},
         year = 2025,
        month = jan,
       volume = {536},
       number = {3},
        pages = {2957-2971},
          doi = {10.1093/mnras/stae2772},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2412.11987},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.EP},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025MNRAS.536.2957N},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{Nicholls_2024_JGRP,
       author = {{Nicholls}, Harrison and {Lichtenberg}, Tim and {Bower}, Dan J. and {Pierrehumbert}, Raymond},
        title = "{Magma Ocean Evolution at Arbitrary Redox State}",
      journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)},
     keywords = {magma oceans, lava planets, exoplanets, atmospheres, simulation, convection, Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics},
         year = 2024,
        month = dec,
       volume = {129},
       number = {12},
        pages = {2024JE008576},
          doi = {10.1029/2024JE008576},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2411.19137},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.EP},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024JGRE..12908576N},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

@ARTICLE{Lichtenberg_2021_JGRP,
       author = {{Lichtenberg}, Tim and {Bower}, Dan J. and {Hammond}, Mark and {Boukrouche}, Ryan and {Sanan}, Patrick and {Tsai}, Shang-Min and {Pierrehumbert}, Raymond T.},
        title = "{Vertically Resolved Magma Ocean-Protoatmosphere Evolution: H$_{2}$, H$_{2}$O, CO$_{2}$, CH$_{4}$, CO, O$_{2}$, and N$_{2}$ as Primary Absorbers}",
      journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)},
     keywords = {Atmosphere origins, exoplanets, magma oceans, planet composition, planet formation and evolution, planetary surface, Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics, Physics - Geophysics},
         year = 2021,
        month = feb,
       volume = {126},
       number = {2},
          eid = {e06711},
        pages = {e06711},
          doi = {10.1029/2020JE006711},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
       eprint = {2101.10991},
 primaryClass = {astro-ph.EP},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021JGRE..12606711L},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}