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Cloud level winds from the Venus Express Monitoring Camera imaging
Roatsch, Th.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Markiewicz, W. J. +7 more
Six years of continuous monitoring of Venus by European Space Agency’s Venus Express orbiter provides an opportunity to study dynamics of the atmosphere our neighbor planet. Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) on-board the orbiter has acquired the longest and the most complete so far set of ultra violet images of Venus. These images enable a study the c…
Observations of D/H ratios in H2O, HCl, and HF on Venus and new DCl and DF line strengths
Li, G.; Belyaev, D. A.; Krasnopolsky, V. A. +2 more
Intensities of the spectral lines in the fundamental bands of D35Cl and DF were calculated using the semi-empirical dipole moment functions derived from the most accurate and precise measurements of intensities of the ro-vibrational lines of H35Cl and HF. Values obtained in this way for the deuterated species are superior to …
Dications and thermal ions in planetary atmospheric escape
Simon Wedlund, C.; Ehrenreich, D.; Witasse, O. +4 more
In the recent years, the presence of dications in the atmospheres of Mars, Venus, Earth and Titan has been modeled and assessed. These studies also suggested that these ions could participate to the escape of the planetary atmospheres because a large fraction of them is unstable and highly energetic. When they dissociate, their internal energy is …
Ground-based near-infrared observations of water vapour in the Venus troposphere
Crisp, David; Bailey, Jeremy; Chamberlain, Sarah +1 more
We present a study of water vapour in the Venus troposphere obtained by modelling specific water vapour absorption bands within the 1.18 µm window. We compare the results with the normal technique of obtaining the abundance by matching the peak of the 1.18 µm window. Ground-based infrared imaging spectroscopy of the night side of Venus…
Venus nitric oxide nightglow mapping from SPICAV nadir observations
Bertaux, J. -L.; Gérard, J. -C.; Stiepen, A. +2 more
Nitric oxide δ (190-240 nm) and γ (255-270 nm) bands have been observed on the Venus nightside with Venus Express SPICAV instrument operated in the nadir mode. These ultraviolet emissions arise from the de-excitation of NO molecules created by radiative recombination of O(3P) and N(4S) atoms. These atoms are produced on the d…
Oxygen nightglow emissions of Venus: Vertical distribution and collisional quenching
Piccioni, G.; Gérard, J. -C.; Soret, L. +1 more
We compare the altitude of three O2 night airglow emissions observed at the limb of Venus by the VIRTIS spectral imager with those values predicted by a model accounting for the different radiative lifetimes and collisional deactivation of the upper O2 states. The O and CO2 density profiles are based on remote sens…
The characteristics of the O2 Herzberg II and Chamberlain bands observed with VIRTIS/Venus Express
Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G.; Soret, L. +6 more
The oxygen Venus nightglow emissions in the visible spectral range have been known since the early observations from the Venera spacecraft. Recent observations with the VIRTIS instrument on board Venus Express allowed us to re-examine the Herzberg II system of O2 and to further study its vertical distribution, in particular the (0-ν″ wi…
Venus Express observations of ULF and ELF waves in the Venus ionosphere: Wave properties and sources
Russell, C. T.; Wei, H. Y.; Zhang, T. L. +3 more
Electrical activity in a planetary atmosphere enables chemical reactions that are not possible under conditions of local thermodynamic equilibrium. In both the Venus and terrestrial atmospheres, lightning forms nitric oxide. Despite the existence of an inventory of NO at Venus like the Earth’s, and despite observations of the signals expected from…
Comparative analysis of airglow emissions in terrestrial planets, observed with VIRTIS-M instruments on board Rosetta and Venus Express
Piccioni, G.; Capaccioni, F.; Gérard, J. -C. +3 more
Airglow emissions are optimal processes to investigate the chemistry and dynamics in planetary atmospheres. In this study, we focus on the O2 and OH airglow emissions in Venus, Earth, and Mars atmospheres, which are controlled by chemical reactions common to the three planets. By studying these phenomena on Venus, Earth, and Mars using …
Comparison of general circulation model atmospheric wave simulations with wind observations of venusian mesosphere
Aoki, Shohei; Kasaba, Yasumasa; Nakagawa, Hiromu +5 more
Simulations from our venusian general circulation model (GCM) forcing the presence of planetary-scale waves and mesoscale gravity waves were compared with infrared (IR) heterodyne observations of Doppler wind velocities in the venusian mesospheric altitude region (110 km). Observations confirmed the strong short-term variations in the venusian mes…