AGU journal highlights -- August 6, 2008(. Recently more detailed observations ha...)

Date:8/6/2008

. Recently, more detailed observations have been obtained by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft. Data from VIRTIS, consisting of images of Venus's cloud cover at three separated altitudes, allows Snchez-Lavega et al. to study the three-dimensional structure of Venus's winds. They find that at latitudes less than 55 degrees, wind speeds remain constant, with velocities of 60?? meters (200-230 feet) per second at the clouds' bases and about 105 meters (344 feet) per second at the clouds' tops. This creates strong vertical wind shear at low latitudes. Poleward of 55 degrees latitude, westward wind speeds are constant throughout the air column and decrease at a steady rate until the pole is reached. This creates a vertically coherent vortex structure of winds swirling about the poles.

Title:

Variable winds on Venus mapped in three dimensions

Authors:

A. Snchez-Lavega, R. Hueso, J. Peralta, and S. Prez-Hoyos: Escuela Superior de Ingeniera, Universidad del Pas Vasco, Bilbao, Spain;

G. Piccioni: Istitoto Nazionale di Astrofsica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Rome, Italy;

P. Drossart and S. Erard: Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Universit Paris-Diderot, Meudon, France;

C. F. Wilson and F. W. Taylor: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.;

K. H. Baines: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, U.S.A.;

D. Luz: Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UMPC, Universit Paris-Diderot, Meudon, France; also at Centro de Astronomia e Astrofsica da Universidade de Lisboa/Observatrio Astronmico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;

S. Lebonnois: Laboratoire de Mtorologie Dynamique/IPSL, CNRS/U
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Contact: Peter Weiss pweiss@agu.org 202-777-7507 American Geophysical Union Source:Eurekalert

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