Numerical simulations of the global circulation of the atmosphere of Venus: Effects of surface relief and solar radiation heating

Abstract

The results of numerical simulations of the global circulation of the atmosphere of Venus in the framework of the complete set of gas dynamics equations, taking into account surface relief, are presented. To calculate the radiative heating/cooling of the atmosphere, the relaxation approximation is used. The heating parameters, at which the modeled zonal superrotation velocity turned out to be close to the observed one, have been found. The results obtained are compared to the earlier published estimates from a model with a spherical surface of Venus. It has been shown that the presence of high mountains on Venus induces a substantial increase of the vertical component of the wind speed and noticeably influences the global distribution of the horizontal wind at altitudes exceeding 80 km, while its effect on this distribution below 60 km is weak.