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Waves in the atmosphere of Venus

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Abstract

The recent Soviet/French instrumented balloon experiments in the Venus atmosphere have shown that turbulent vertical motions with amplitudes of several metres per second exist within the principal cloud deck at about 50 km elevation1. The motions are particularly intense over the Aphrodite mountains, and the experimenters suggest that a disturbance forced by surface flow over the mountains reaches to cloud levels1,2. Here I point out that a patch of turbulence stationary over a surface feature can generate a wake-like pattern of horizontally propagating waves which can explain the general visual appearance of Venus, and which can produce a momentum exchange from mid-latitudes to low latitudes, helping to maintain the Venus atmospheric rotation.

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References

  1. 1. Linkin, V. M. et al. Science 231, 1417–1419 (1986). 2. Blamont, J. E. et al. Science 231, 1422–1425 (1986). 3. Counselman, C. C. et al. J. geophys. Res. 85, 8026–8030 (1980). 4. Schubert, G. in Venus (eds Hunten, D., Colin, L., Donahue, T. M. & Moroz, V. I.) 681–765 (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1983). 5. Knollenberg, R. G. & Hunten, D. M. / geophys. Res. 85, 8039–8058 (1980). 6. Seiff, A. in Venus (eds Hunten, D., Colin, L., Donahue, T. M. & Moroz, V. I.) 215–279 (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1983). 7. Covey, C. C *. Schubert, G. Nature 290, 17–20 (1981). 8. Belton, M. J. S. et al. J. atmos. Sci. 33, 1383–1393 (1976). 9. Tolstoy, I. Wave Propagation (McGaw Hill, New York, 1973). 10. Schubert, G. & Waltersheid, R. L. / atmos. Sci. 41, 1202–1213 (1984). 11. Young, R. E. et al. J. atmos. Sci. (in the press). 12. Lighthill, J. Waves in Fluids (Cambridge University Press, 1978). 13. Gierasch, P. J. /. atmos. Sci. 32, 1038–1044 (1975).

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Author notes

  1. Peter J. Gierasch

    Present address: Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric Physics, Clarendon Laboratories, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

    Peter J. Gierasch

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  1. Peter J. Gierasch
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Gierasch, P. Waves in the atmosphere of Venus. Nature 328, 510–512 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328510a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/328510a0

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