Venus's turbulent atmosphere


University of Cologne


But that is about where the similarities end: Venus is one the most hostile places in our solar system. This phenomenon is called superrotation, and it causes substantial turbulences in the planet’s atmosphere. The research team analysed data generated by the spacecraft Venus Express to investigate components of Venus’s complex atmosphere, including thermal measurements with regard to horizontal and vertical wave patterns. The vertical information from the VeRa instrument (an atmosphere experiment where radio waves sent by spacecraft Venus Express are being analysed) could help to identify the observed waves as gravity waves. We assume that these stationary waves are substantial for the continuity of the superrotation in the atmosphere of Venus.’


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