  Most current models of hot-exoplanet atmospheres assume shallow heating, a
strong day-night differential heating near the top of the atmosphere. Here we
investigate the effects of energy deposition at differing depths in a model
tidally locked gas-giant exoplanet. We perform high-resolution atmospheric flow
simulations of hot-exoplanet atmospheres forced with idealized thermal heating
representative of shallow and deep heating (i.e., stellar irradiation strongly
deposited at $\sim 10^3$ Pa and $\sim 10^5$ Pa pressure levels, respectively).
Unlike with shallow heating, the flow with deep heating exhibits a new dynamic
equilibrium state, characterized by repeated generation of giant cyclonic
storms that move away westward once formed. The formation is accompanied by a
burst of heightened turbulence, leading to the production of small-scale flow
structures and large-scale mixing of temperature on a timescale of $\sim 3$
planetary rotations. Significantly, while effects that could be important
(e.g., coupled radiative flux and convectively excited gravity waves) are not
included, over a timescale of several hundred days the simulations robustly
show that the emergent thermal flux depends strongly on the heating type and is
distinguishable by current observations.
