Venusian Ionosphere During Deep Solar Minima: Some New Insights Using Akatsuki Radio Science Experiment

Abstract

The study of the Venus atmosphere and ionosphere using the radio science (RS) technique started with the Mariner-5 orbiter mission (A.

The Venus Global Ionosphere‐Thermosphere Model (V‐GITM): A Coupled Thermosphere and Ionosphere Formulation

“…In this section, individual ion density profiles and bulk electron densities are shown in Figure 15. The dayside ionosphere is robust, with densities peaking at over 5 × 10 5 cm −3 (V 2 layer) which is consistent with Venus Express and Akatsuki measurements taken during solar minimum (Hensley et al., 2020; Tripathi et al., 2023). Solar zenith angles incremented at 15° between 0° and 90° were investigated to compare not only the number density at the V2 peak, but also the corresponding altitude at which the V2 peak occurs, h m V 2 .…”

“…It was noted within Tripathi et al. (2023) that there were very limited profiles where it was more often than not, much more depleted than the profile shown in Figure 17.…”

“…Akatsuki measurements have been published for solar zenith angles of near 140° (∼2.7 LT). One particular profile was taken near at 1°S during 13 December 2021 with an F10.7 of 70 × 10 −22 W m −2 Hz −1 (Murakami et al., 2017; Tripathi et al., 2023). It was noted within Tripathi et al.…”

“…Akatsuki measurements have been published for solar zenith angles of near 140°(∼2.7 LT). One particular profile was taken near at 1°S during 13 December 2021 with an F10.7 of 70 × 10 22 W m 2 Hz 1 (Murakami et al, 2017;Tripathi et al, 2023). It was noted within Tripathi et al (2023) that there were very limited profiles where it was more often than not, much more depleted than the profile shown in Figure 17.…”