  Motivated by the observational evidence of inhomogeneous clouds in
exoplanetary atmospheres, we investigate how proposed simple cloud
distributions can affect atmospheric circulations and infrared emission. We
simulated temperatures and winds for the hot Jupiter Kepler-7b using a
three-dimensional atmospheric circulation model that included a simplified
aerosol radiative transfer model. We prescribed fixed cloud distributions and
scattering properties based on results previously inferred from Kepler-7b
optical phase curves, including inhomogeneous aerosols centered along the
western terminator and hypothetical cases in which aerosols additionally
extended across much of the planet's night side. In all cases, a strong jet
capable of advecting aerosols from a cooler nightside to dayside was found to
persist, but only at the equator. Colder temperatures at mid- and
polar-latitudes might permit aerosol to form on the dayside without the need
for advection. By altering the deposition and redistribution of heat, aerosols
along the western terminator produced an asymmetric heating that effectively
shifts the hottest spot further east of the sub-stellar point than expected for
a uniform distribution. The addition of opaque high clouds on the nightside can
partly mitigate this enhanced shift by retaining heat that contributes to
warming west of the hotspot. These expected differences in infrared phase
curves could place constraints on proposed cloud distributions and their
infrared opacities for brighter hot Jupiters.
