Venus: key to understanding the evolution of terrestrial planets

Wilson, Colin; Widemann, Thomas; Ghail, R. C.

doi:10.1007/s10686-021-09766-0

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…EnVision, an orbital mission to Venus developed by the European Space Agency (Wilson et al, 2022;Widemann et al, 2023), will perform high-resolution radar mapping and atmospheric observations from a near-circular 220×570 km science orbit 1 that closely resembles the baseline 400-km circular orbit in our simulations. Our simulation results…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteor phenomena in the atmosphere of Venus

Christou¹,

Gritsevich

2023

Preprint

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Meteor astronomy employs the atmosphere of the Earth as a large area detector for 0.01-1000 mm meteoroids [1]. Monitoring the atmospheres of other planets for meteor activity offers the opportunity to study the parent bodies of as-yet-undetected meteor showers, test ablation models under non-terrestrial conditions and allow spacecraft operators to mitigate the risk of meteoroid impact damage [2]. By adjusting existing techniques to simulate meteoroid ablation in a Venus-like atmosphere [3-8], we show that Venusian meteors are generally brighter but shorter-lived than terrestrial meteors and ablate at a higher altitude, in a predominantly clear region of the atmosphere.&#160;These simulations are complemented with a list of cometary bodies and known meteoroid streams that we consider to be prime candidates for producing significant meteor activity at Venus [9,10]. Such predictions may be used in developing future observational campaigns to be carried out from Earth or from Venus orbit. References: [1]&#160;Jenniskens, P. (2006) Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. [2] Christou A. A. et al (2019) In: Meteoroids: Sources of Meteors on Earth and Beyond, Cambridge University Press, p.119-135. [3] Christou A. A. (2004) Icarus 168, 23-33 [4] McAuliffe, J. P., Christou, A. A. (2006) Icarus 180, 8-22 [5] Gritsevich M., Koschny D. (2011) Icarus 212, 877-884 [6] Bouquet A. et al (2012) Planet. Space Sci. 103, 238-249 [7] Gritsevich, M. I. (2009) Adv. Space Res. 44, 323&#8211;334 [8] Lyytinen, E., Gritsevich, M. (2016) Planet. Space Sci. 120, 35-42 [9] Christou A. A. (2010) MNRAS 402, 2759-2770 [10] Christou, A. A., Vaubaillon, J. (2011) In: Proc. Meteoroids Conf, NASA/CP-2011-216469, p.26

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Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteor phenomena in the atmosphere of Venus

Christou¹,

Gritsevich

2023

Preprint

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“…Progress in the knowledge of the mechanisms that excite the waves and their impact in the atmosphere will require long‐term monitoring of Venus atmospheric dynamics combined with a better capability to determine the altitudes where the upper cloud dynamics are observed and the properties of the atmosphere bellow the clouds. While the EnVision mission (Ghail et al, ), currently under study on European Space Agency, might not be well suited to study this particular topic due to its character as a geologic mission, a new generation of mission concepts is being explored (Glaze et al, ; Wilson & Widemann, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Venus Cloud Winds and Mean Albedo Variability From Atmospheric Waves

Hueso

2019

JGR Planets

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Venus's atmosphere presents an enigmatic global circulation with winds that rotate around the planet 60 times faster than the slow rotation of the surface. For decades the connection between the atmospheric super rotation and atmospheric waves has been suspected. However, the characterization of how these atmospheric waves originate, interact with the global circulation, and dissipate has been difficult. Recent results from the Akatsuki mission (Imai et al., 2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2019JE006065) show explicitly the emergence of planetary-scale Kelvin and Rossby waves at the upper cloud tops and how they transform from one type of wave to other giving new insights in the atmospheric super rotation.Plain Language Summary Venus is a mysterious planet in many aspects. One of them is its global atmospheric circulation. In a planet that rotates so slowly that its year (224.7 Earth days) is only 1.9 times longer than its solar day (116.7 Earth days), the visible clouds rotate around the planet with velocities of ∼360 km/hr, touring the planet in ∼4 Earth days. A crucial element to power these winds is atmospheric waves that transport energy and momentum through the atmosphere. However, a good characterization of the waves and the changes they impose on the winds has been missing from results of Venus exploration collected by a variety of space missions. In a recent analysis of images of the upper clouds of Venus obtained by the Akatsuki mission, Imai et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE006065) characterize changes in the winds and albedo of the planet as planetary-scale waves develop, transform from one type into another, and vanish. Their study opens the door to an improved understanding of the role of the planetary-scale waves in shaping Venus superrotating winds.

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“…Venus is often regarded as Earth's sister planet that holds the key to understanding the Earth and terrestrial planets (Wilson et al, 2021). Indeed, Venus' mass and radius are similar to those of Earth's, yet the evolution of the planet resulted in a hell-like environment of high temperatures and pressures and sulfuric acid compared to the temperate life-sustaining environment on Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rifting Venus: Insights from Numerical Modeling

Regorda

Thieulot

Zelst

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Venus is a terrestrial planet with dimensions similar to the Earth, but a vastly different geodynamic evolution, with recent studies debating the occurrence and extent of tectoniclike processes happening on the planet. The precious direct data that we have for Venus is very little, and there are only few numerical modeling studies concerning lithosphericscale processes. However, the use of numerical models has proven crucial for our understanding of large-scale geodynamic processes of the Earth. Therefore, here we adapt 2D thermo-mechanical numerical models of rifting on Earth to Venus to study how the observed rifting structures on the Venusian surface could have been formed. More specifically, we aim to investigate how rifting evolves under the Venusian surface conditions and the proposed lithospheric structure. Our results show that a strong crustal rheology such as diabase is needed to localize strain and to develop a rift under the high surface temperature and pressure of Venus. The evolution of the rift formation is predominantly controlled by the crustal thickness, with a 25 km-thick diabase crust required to produce mantle upwelling and melting. The surface topography produced by our models fits well with the topography profiles of the Ganis and Devana Chasmata for different crustal thicknesses. We therefore speculate that the difference in these rift features on Venus could be due to different crustal thicknesses. Based on the estimated heat flux of Venus, our models indicate that a crust with a global average lower than 35 km is the most likely crustal thickness on Venus.

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Venus: key to understanding the evolution of terrestrial planets

Cited by 8 publications

References 32 publications

Meteor phenomena in the atmosphere of Venus

Meteor phenomena in the atmosphere of Venus

Venus Cloud Winds and Mean Albedo Variability From Atmospheric Waves

Rifting Venus: Insights from Numerical Modeling

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