Abstract

One year into the JWST era, high-precision near-infrared spectroscopy is already revolutionizing our understanding of the diversity of exoplanetary atmosphere types and the chemical processes that shape their evolution. In this talk, I will present new JWST insights into the atmospheres of giant planets, small rocky planets, and a potential population of volatile-rich "water" worlds. For each of these types of planets, JWST atmospheric characterization is already proving to present unique opportunities for leaps in our understanding of how, where, and when planets form, which planetary atmospheres can survive or be revived on close-in orbits, initial and present-day volatile inventories, and what we can learn from detailed atmospheric modeling of the disequilibrium processes sculpting hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. I will discuss recent discoveries as well as frontiers presented by the unprecedented wealth of planetary and stellar astrophysical processes imprinted in JWST observations, and propose avenues toward novel modeling methods to address these challenges.