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| A chaotic long-lived vortex at the southern pole of Venus |
| Polar vortices are common in the atmospheres of rapidly rotating planets. On Earth and Mars, vortices are generated by surface temperature gradients and their strength is modulated by the seasonal insolation cycle. Slowly rotating Venus lacks pronounced seasonal forcing, but vortices are known to occur at both poles, in an atmosphere that rotates faster than the planet itself. Here we report observations of cloud motions at altitudes of 42 and 63 km above Venus's south pole using infrared images from the VIRTIS instrument onboard the Venus Express spacecraft. We find that the south polar vortex is a long-lived but unpredictable feature. Within the two cloud layers sampled, the centres of rotation of the vortex are rarely aligned vertically and both wander erratically around the pole with velocities of up to 16 ms-1. At the two horizontal levels, the observed cloud morphologies do not correlate with the vorticity of the wind field and change continuously, and vertical and meridional wind shears are also highly variable. We conclude that Venus's south polar vortex is a continuously evolving structure that is at least 20 km high, extending through a quasi-convective turbulent region. |
| Publication date: 24 Mar 2013 |
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| Variations of sulphur dioxide at the cloud top of Venus's dynamic atmosphere |
| Sulphur dioxide is a million times more abundant in the atmosphere of Venus than that of Earth, possibly as a result of volcanism on Venus within the past billion years. A tenfold decrease in sulphur dioxide column density above Venus's clouds measured by the Pioneer Venus spacecraft during the 1970s and 1980s has been interpreted as decline following an episode of volcanogenic upwelling from the lower atmosphere. Here we report that the sulphur dioxide column density above Venus's clouds decreased by an order of magnitude between 2007 and 2012 using ultraviolet spectrometer data from the SPICAV instrument onboard the Venus Express spacecraft. This decline is similar to observations during the 1980s. We also report strong latitudinal and temporal variability in sulphur dioxide column density that is consistent with supply fluctuations from the lower atmosphere. We suggest that episodic sulphur dioxide injections to the cloud tops may be caused either by periods of increased buoyancy of volcanic plumes, or, in the absence of active volcanism, by long-period oscillations of the general atmospheric circulation. The 30-year observational record from Pioneer Venus and Venus Express confirms that episodic injections of sulphur dioxide above the clouds recur on decadal timescales, suggesting a more variable atmosphere than expected. |
| Publication date: 02 Dec 2012 |
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| A teardrop-shaped ionosphere at Venus in tenuous solar wind |
| A very tenuous solar wind regime, following a series of large coronal mass ejections, impacted Venus during early August, 2010. STEREO-B downstream from Venus observed that the solar wind density at Earth orbit dropped to ~0.1 #/cm3 and persisted at this value over 1 day. A similar low value was observed at Earth in 1999 and has attracted comprehensive attention (Lazarus, A.J., 2000. Solar physics: the day the solar wind almost disappeared. Science 287, 2172-2173.), especially its consequences on Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere (Lockwood, M., 2001. Astronomy: the day the solar wind nearly died. Nature 409, 677-679.). We now have an opportunity to examine the response of Venus' ionosphere to such a tenuous solar wind. After Venus Express spacecraft entered the ionosphere near the terminator, it continuously sampled O+ dominated planetary plasma on the nightside till it left the optical shadow region when Venus Express was located at 2 RV (Venus' Radii) to the Venus center and 1.1 RV to the Sun-Venus line. Moreover, the O+ speed was lower than the gravitational escape speed. We interpret this low-speed O+ as a constituent of the extended nightside ionosphere as a consequence of long-duration (18 h) tenuous solar wind, because the very low dynamic pressure enhances the source and reduces the sink of the nightside ionosphere. Though the full extent of the nightside ionosphere is not known due to the limitation of spacecraft's trajectory, our results suggest that the global configuration of Venus' ionosphere could resemble a teardrop-shaped cometary ionosphere. |
| Publication date: 01 Dec 2012 |
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| Coronal Density Structures and CMEs: Superior Solar Conjunctions of Mars Express, Venus Express, and Rosetta: 2004, 2006, and 2008 |
| Coronal radio-sounding experiments were carried out using the S-band (2.3 GHz) and X-band (8.4 GHz) signals of the ESA Mars Express, Venus Express, and Rosetta spacecraft during five superior conjunctions occurring in 2004, 2006 (3×), and 2008/2009. Differential frequency and propagation delay (ranging) observations were recorded during these opportunities over the better part of a solar cycle, yielding information on the large-scale structure of the coronal electron-density distribution and its variations, including fluctuations on time scales from seconds to hours. These results concern primarily regions of slow solar wind because the radio propagation path is generally confined to the low heliolatitude regions by the conjunction. The mean frequency fluctuation and total electron content are determined as a function of heliocentric distance, and, with a few exceptions caused by streamers and CMEs, are found to be consistent with previous results from experiments on Ulysses. Dense coronal streamers and several coronal mass ejection (CME) events were identified in the radio-frequency data, some of which were observed in white light by the LASCO coronagraphs onboard SOHO. For those events with sufficient mutual coverage, good correlations are found between the electron-content fluctuations and structure imaged by the LASCO instrument. |
| Publication date: 15 Jul 2012 |
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| Densities and temperatures in the Venus mesosphere and lower thermosphere retrieved from SOIR on board Venus Express: Carbon dioxide measurements at the Venus terminator |
| SOIR is a high-resolution spectrometer flying on board the ESA Venus Express mission. It performs solar occultations of the Venus high atmosphere, and so defines unique vertical profiles of many of the Venus key species. In this paper, we focus on the Venus main constituent, carbon dioxide. We explain how the temperature, the total density, and the total pressure are derived from the observed CO2 density vertical profiles. A striking permanent temperature minimum at 125 km is observed. The data set is processed in order to obtain a Venus Atmosphere from SOIR measurements at the Terminator (VAST) compilation for different latitude regions and extending from 70 up to 170 km in altitude. The results are compared to many literature results obtained from ground-based observations, previous missions, and the Venus Express mission. The homopause altitude is also determined. |
| Publication date: 03 Jul 2012 |
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| ESA SP-1323: ESA's Report to the 39th COSPAR Meeting |
The 39th meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was held 14-22 July 2012 in Mysore, India.
This report to COSPAR on the scientific activities of the European Space Agency was written by members of the Directorate of Earth Observation, the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations and the Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration.
Contents:
- Foreword by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General, ESA
- Earth Observation
- Introduction
- The Living Planet Programme
- The Earth Explorer Missions
- ERS and Envisat
- Human Spaceflight and Operations
- Introduction
- Overview: Columbus and ISS Facilities
- Funding Europe's ISS Research: ELIPS
- Research on the ISS
- Ongoing Research Using Other Platforms
- Projects under Development
- Science and Robotic Exploration
- Introduction
- Missions in Operation
- Missions in the Post-Operations and Archiving Phases
- Projects under Development
- Missions under Study
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| Publication date: 30 Jun 2012 |
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| Geologic interpretation of the near-infrared images of the surface taken by the Venus Monitoring Camera, Venus Express |
| We analyze night-time near-infrared (NIR) thermal emission images of the Venus surface obtained with the 1-micron channel of the Venus Monitoring Camera onboard Venus Express. Comparison with the results of the Magellan radar survey and the model NIR images of the Beta-Phoebe region show that the night-time VMC images provide reliable information on spatial variations of the NIR surface emission. In this paper we consider if tessera terrain has the different NIR emissivity (and thus mineralogic composition) in comparison to the surrounding basaltic plains. This is done through the study of an area SW of Beta Regio where there is a massif of tessera terrain, Chimon-mana Tessera, surrounded by supposedly basaltic plains. Our analysis showed that 1-micron emissivity of tessera surface material is by 15-35% lower than that of relatively fresh supposedly basaltic lavas of plains and volcanic edifices. This is consistent with hypothesis that the tessera material is not basaltic, maybe felsic, that is in agreement with the results of analyses of VEX VIRTIS and Galileo NIMS data. If the felsic nature of venusian tesserae will be confirmed in further studies this may have important implications on geochemical environments in early history of Venus. We have found that the surface materials of plains in the study area are very variegated in their 1-micron emissivity, which probably reflects variability of degree of their chemical weathering. We have also found a possible decrease of the calculated emissivity at the top of Tuulikki Mons volcano which, if real, may be due to different (more felsic?) composition of volcanic products on the volcano summit. |
| Publication date: 16 May 2012 |
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| Magnetic Reconnection in the Near Venusian Magnetotail |
Published online 5 April 2012, in Science Express Observations with the Venus Express magnetometer and low-energy particle detector revealed magnetic field and plasma behaviour in the near-Venus wake symptomatic of magnetic reconnection, a process that occurs in the Earth's magnetotail but is not expected in the magnetotail of a non-magnetized planet like Venus. On 15 May 2006, the plasma flow in this region was toward the planet and the magnetic field component transverse to the flow was reversed. Magnetic reconnection is a plasma process that changes the topology of the magnetic field and results in energy exchange between the magnetic field and the plasma. Thus, the energetics of
the Venus magnetotail resembles that of the terrestrial tail where energy is stored and later released from the magnetic field to the plasma. |
| Publication date: 04 May 2012 |
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| Advances in Venus Science |
This issue of Icarus presents papers on the planet Venus based principally on presentations at two international conferences during the summer of 2010. Under the sponsorship of the European Space Agency, the International Venus Conference (Aussois, France, 20-26 June 2010) focused on the results from the Venus Express Mission. Venus Express is expected to continue operations through December 2014 and beyond. The second conference, "Venus Our Closest Earth-like Planet: From Surface to Thermosphere - How does it work?", was sponsored by the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) chartered by NASA in Madison, Wisconsin (29 August-1 September, 2010). The work presented at these conferences illustrates the resurgence in Venus research since the arrival at Venus of the European Space Agency's Venus Express orbiter in April 2006. The issue also includes papers that were inspired by JAXA's launch of Venus Climate Orbiter (also known as Akatsuki) in May 2010.
The papers reflect the international interest in Venus and cover many different aspects of the planet, ranging from interior and surface to the upper atmosphere, with many results focusing on the coupling between different layers.
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| Publication date: 03 Apr 2012 |
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| Rotation period of Venus estimated from Venus Express VIRTIS images and Magellan altimetry |
| The 1.02 micron wavelength thermal emission of the nightside of Venus is strongly anti-correlated to the elevation of the surface. The VIRTIS instrument on Venus Express has mapped this emission and therefore gives evidence for the orientation of Venus between 2006 and 2008. The Magellan mission provided a global altimetry data set recorded between 1990 and 1992. Comparison of these two data sets reveals a deviation in longitude indicating that the rotation of the planet is not fully described by the orientation model recommended by the IAU. This deviation is sufficiently large to affect estimates of surface emissivity from infrared imaging. A revised period of rotation of Venus of 243.023 ± 0.002 d aligns the two data sets. This period of rotation agrees with pre-Magellan estimates but is significantly different from the commonly accepted value of 243.0185 ± 0.0001 d estimated from Magellan radar images. It is possible that this discrepancy stems from a length of day variation with the value of 243.023 ± 0.002 d representing the average of the rotation period over 16 years. |
| Publication date: 01 Feb 2012 |
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| A layer of ozone detected in the nightside upper atmosphere of Venus |
Made available online 25 August 2011 To date, ozone has only been identified in the atmospheres of Earth and Mars. This study reports the first detection of ozone in the atmosphere of Venus by the SPICAV ultraviolet instrument onboard the Venus Express spacecraft. Venusian ozone is characterized by a vertically confined and horizontally variable layer residing in the thermosphere at a mean altitude of 100 km, with local concentrations of the order of 107-108 molecules cm-3. The observed ozone concentrations are consistent with values expected for a chlorine-catalyzed destruction scheme, indicating that the key chemical reactions operating in Earth's upper stratosphere may also operate on Venus. |
| Publication date: 01 Nov 2011 |
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| Comparative Planetology: Venus-Earth-Mars |
Comparative planetology has long been a field of general interest but with a fairly small number of scientists actively involved. During the last decade, until recently, there has been no significant growth, possibly much due to lack of new data from Venus; perhaps the most obvious planet to compare with the Earth. Availability of ample data of high quality is of paramount importance for proper comparisons. With the arrival of Venus Express at Venus in March 2006 a new impulse to the field has been injected. Venus Express addresses a large number of topics relevant to comparative planetology; in particular in the field of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry, clouds and atmospheresolar wind interaction.
Mars has been the subject of significant interest and many space missions in the recent years. Being smaller and cooler and in several aspects more evolved, Mars is still a planet of great interest for comparison with the Earth on the other end of the parameter space.
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| Publication date: 02 Aug 2011 |
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| Atmospheric angular momentum variations of Earth, Mars and Venus at seasonal time scales |
| Atmospheric angular momentum variations of a planet are associated with the global atmospheric mass redistribution and the wind variability. The exchange of angular momentum between the fluid layers and the solid planet is the main cause for the variations of the planetary rotation at seasonal time scales. In the present study, we investigate the angular momentum variations of the Earth, Mars and Venus, using geodetic observations, output of state-of-the-art global circulation models as well as assimilated data. We discuss the similarities and differences in angular momentum variations, planetary rotation and angular momentum exchange for the three terrestrial planets. We show that the atmospheric angular momentum variations for Mars and Earth are mainly annual and semi-annual whereas they are expected to be "diurnal" on Venus. The wind terms have the largest contributions to the LOD changes of the Earth and Venus whereas the matter term is dominant on Mars due to the CO2 sublimation/condensation. The corresponding LOD variations (DLOD) have similar amplitudes on Mars and Earth but are much larger on Venus, though more difficult to observe. |
| Publication date: 01 Aug 2011 |
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| Venus's southern polar vortex reveals precessing circulation |
Published online in Science Express, 7 April 2011. Initial images of Venus's South Pole by the Venus Express mission showed the presence of a bright, highly variable vortex, similar to that at the planet's North Pole. Using high-resolution infrared measurements of polar winds from the Venus Express's Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument, we show the vortex to have a constantly varying internal structure, with a centre of rotation displaced from the geographic South Pole by ~3 degrees of latitude, and which drifts around the pole with a period of 5 to 10 Earth days. This is indicative of a nonsymmetric and varying precession of the polar atmospheric circulation with respect to the planetary axis. |
| Publication date: 07 Apr 2011 |
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| An investigation of the SO2 content of the venusian mesosphere using SPICAV-UV in nadir mode |
| Using the SPICAV-UV spectrometer aboard Venus Express in nadir mode, we were able to derive spectral radiance factors in the middle atmosphere of Venus in the 170-320 nm range at a spectral resolution of R ~ 200 during 2006 and 2007 in the northern hemisphere. By comparison with a radiative transfer model of the upper atmosphere of Venus, we could derive column abundance above the visible cloud top for SO2 using its spectral absorption bands near 280 and 220 nm. SO2 column densities show large temporal and spatial variations on a horizontal scale of a few hundred kilometers. Typical SO2 column densities at low latitudes (up to 50°N) were found between 5 and 50 micron-atm, whereas in the northern polar region SO2 content was usually below 5 micron-atm. The observed latitudinal variations follow closely the cloud top altitude derived by SPICAV-IR and are thought to be of dynamical origin. Also, a sudden increase of SO2 column density in the whole northern hemisphere has been observed in early 2007, possibly related to a convective episode advecting some deep SO2 into the upper atmosphere. |
| Publication date: 15 Jan 2011 |
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| Photolysis of sulphuric acid as the source of sulphur oxides in the mesosphere of Venus |
| The sulphur cycle plays fundamental roles in the chemistry and climate of Venus. Thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry at the surface of Venus favours the production of carbonyl sulphide and to a lesser extent sulphur dioxide. These gases are transported to the middle atmosphere by the Hadley circulation cell. Above the cloud top, a sulphur oxidation cycle involves conversion of carbonyl sulphide into sulphur dioxide, which is then transported further upwards. A significant fraction of this sulphur dioxide is subsequently oxidized to sulphur trioxide and eventually reacts with water to form sulphuric acid. Because the vapour pressure of sulphuric acid is low, it readily condenses and forms an upper cloud layer at altitudes of 60-70 km, and an upper haze layer above 70 km (ref. 9), which effectively sequesters sulphur oxides from photochemical reactions. Here we present simulations of the fate of sulphuric acid in the Venusian mesosphere based on the Caltech/JPL kinetics model, but including the photolysis of sulphuric acid. Our model suggests that the mixing ratios of sulphur oxides are at least five times higher above 90 km when the photolysis of sulphuric acid is included. Our results are inconsistent with the previous model results but in agreement with the recent observations using ground-based microwave spectroscopy and by Venus Express. |
| Publication date: 31 Oct 2010 |
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| The thermal structure of Venusian night-time mesosphere as observed by VIRTIS-Venus Express |
The mapping IR channel of the Visual and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS-M) on board the Venus Express spacecraft observes the CO2 band at 4.3 ¼m at a spectral resolution adequate to retrieve the atmospheric temperature profiles in the 65-96 km altitude range.
Observations acquired in the period June 2006 - July 2008 were used to derive average temperature fields as a function of latitude, subsolar longitude (i.e.: local time, LT) and pressure. Coverage presented here is limited to the nighttime because of the adverse effects of daytime non-LTE emission on the retrieval procedure, and to southernmost latitudes because of the orientation of the Venus-Express orbit. Maps of air temperature variability are also presented as the standard deviation of the population included in each averaging bin.
At the 100 mbar level (about 65 km above the reference surface) temperatures tend to decrease from the evening to the morning side, despite a local maximum observed around 20-21LT. The cold collar is evident around 65S, with a minimum temperature at 3LT. Moving to higher altitudes, local time trends become less evident at 12.6 mbar (about 75 km) where the temperature monotonically increases from middle-latitudes to the southern pole. Nonetheless, at this pressure level, two weaker local time temperature minima are observed at 23LT and 2LT equatorward of 60S. Local time trends in temperature reverse about 85 km, where the morning side is the warmer.
The variability at the 100 mbar level is maximum around 80S and stronger toward the morning side. Moving to higher altitudes, the morning side always shows the stronger variability. Southward of 60S, standard deviation presents minimum values around 12.6 mbar for all the local times. |
| Publication date: 22 Jun 2010 |
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| Superrotation of Venus' atmosphere analyzed with a full general circulation model |
| A general circulation model (GCM) has been developed for the Venus atmosphere, from the surface up to 100 km altitude, based on the GCM developed for Earth at our laboratory. Key features of this new GCM include topography, diurnal cycle, dependence of the specific heat on temperature, and a consistent radiative transfer module based on net exchange rate matrices. This allows a consistent computation of the temperature field, in contrast to previous GCMs of Venus atmosphere that used simplified temperature forcing. The circulation is analyzed after 350 Venus days (111 Earth years). Superrotation is obtained above roughly 40 km altitude. Below, the zonal wind remains very small compared to observed values, which is a major pending question. The meridional circulation consists of equator-to-pole cells, the dominant one being located within the cloud layers. The modeled temperature structure is globally consistent with observations, though discrepancies persist in the stability of the lowest layers and equator-pole temperature contrast within the clouds (10 K in the model compared to the observed 40 K). In agreement with observational data, a convective layer is found between the base of the clouds (around 47 km) and the middle of the clouds (55-60 km altitude). The transport of angular momentum is analyzed, and comparison between the reference simulation and a simulation without diurnal cycle illustrates the role played by thermal tides in the equatorial region. Without diurnal cycle, the Gierasch-Rossow-Williams mechanism controls angular momentum transport. The diurnal tides add a significant downward transport of momentum in the equatorial region, causing low latitude momentum accumulation. |
| Publication date: 12 Jun 2010 |
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| Comparative investigation of the terrestrial and Venusian magnetopause: Kinetic modeling and experimental observations by Cluster and Venus Express |
| In June 2006 Venus Express crossed several times the outer boundary of Venus induced magnetosphere, its magnetosheath and its bow shock. During the same interval the Cluster spacecraft surveyed the dawn flank of the terrestrial magnetosphere, intersected the Earth's magnetopause and spent long time intervals in the magnetosheath. This configuration offers the opportunity to perform a joint investigation of the interface between Venus and Earth's outer plasma layers and the shocked solar wind. We discuss the kinetic structure of the magnetopause of both planets, its global characteristics and the effects on the interaction between the planetary plasma and the solar wind. A Vlasov equilibrium model is constructed for both planetary magnetopauses and provides good estimates of the magnetic field profile across the interface. The model is also in agreement with plasma data and evidence the role of planetary and solar wind ions on the spatial scale of the equilibrium magnetopause of the two planets. The main characteristics of the two magnetopauses are discussed and compared. |
| Publication date: 06 May 2010 |
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| Recent hot-spot volcanism on Venus from VIRTIS emissivity data |
| The questions of whether or not Venus is geologically active and how the planet has resurfaced over the last billion years have major implications for interior dynamics and climate change. Nine 'hot spots', areas analogous to Hawaii with volcanism, broad topographic rises, and large positive gravity anomalies suggesting mantle plumes at depth, have been identified as possibly active. This study uses variations in thermal emissivity of the surface by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on the ESA Venus Express spacecraft to identify compositional differences in lava flows at three hot spots. The anomalies are interpreted as a lack of surface weathering. We estimate the flows to be younger than 250 ky, and probably much younger, indicating that Venus is actively resurfacing. |
| Publication date: 08 Apr 2010 |
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