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Evidence for lightning on Venus

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Abstract

WHETHER lightning exists in a planetary atmosphere is a fundamental question for the atmospheric physicist. The conditions within a lightning stroke are far different from those within ambient atmosphere, permitting chemical and physical changes in the atmosphere which are not possible in equilibrium conditions. The relative importance of such nonequilibrium processes depends on the frequency and the location of this electrical activity. Discovery of lightning on other planets would also affect other scientific fields, including studies of planetary magnetospheres and of life. Lightning has been predicted or considered on Venus1 and Jupiter2,3, and evidence for lightning has been obtained with instrumentation on Venera 11 and 12 descent vehicles4. Electric fields characteristic of lightning, and acoustic signals, were detected on the dayside of the planet. We present here evidence of lightning on Venus obtained by instruments on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Sciences Department, TRW Defense and Space Systems Group, One Space Park, Redondo Beach, California, 90278

    WILLIAM W. L. TAYLOR & FREDERICK L. SCARF

  2. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard, Los Angeles, California, 90024

    CHRISTOPHER T. RUSSELL

  3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771

    LARRY H. BRACE

Authors
  1. WILLIAM W. L. TAYLOR
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  2. FREDERICK L. SCARF
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  3. CHRISTOPHER T. RUSSELL
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  4. LARRY H. BRACE
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TAYLOR, W., SCARF, F., RUSSELL, C. et al. Evidence for lightning on Venus. Nature 279, 614–616 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/279614a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/279614a0

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