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HDO and H2O vertical distributions and isotopic ratio in the Venus mesosphere by Solar Occultation at Infrared spectrometer on board Venus Express
Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A.; Korablev, O. +8 more
Vertical distributions of the molecular density and mixing ratios of H2O and HDO in the Venus mesosphere have been obtained using Solar Occultation at Infrared (SOIR), a high-resolution (with λ/δλ ~ 20,000) echelle spectrometer on Venus Express. The atmosphere is sounded in solar occultation in the range of altitudes from 65 to 130 km. …
Venus surface thermal emission at 1 µm in VIRTIS imaging observations: Evidence for variation of crust and mantle differentiation conditions
Erard, S.; Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G. +4 more
The Venus Express spacecraft images the nightside thermal emissions using the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS). At 1.02, 1.10, and 1.18 µm, thermal emission from the surface is observed. The signal is attenuated by scattering and absorption in the dense atmosphere. The measured flux at the top of the atmosphere is p…
A latitudinal survey of CO, OCS, H2O, and SO2 in the lower atmosphere of Venus: Spectroscopic studies using VIRTIS-H
Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G.; Bézard, B. +3 more
The high-resolution channel (R $\simeq$ 2000) of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument (VIRTIS-H) aboard Venus Express has provided numerous spectra of the nightside infrared thermal emission in the 2.3-µm window. Mixing ratios of various minor species in the 30-40 km range could therefore be inferred usin…
Characterization of mesoscale gravity waves in the upper and lower clouds of Venus from VEX-VIRTIS images
Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Drossart, P. +3 more
Images obtained from the Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS)-M instrument onboard Venus Express present visible trains of alternating bands of cloud brightness in two different layers: at the upper cloud tops (~66 km altitude) observed in the dayside hemisphere using reflected ultraviolet light (380 nm) and in the lower clou…
Composition of the Venus mesosphere measured by Solar Occultation at Infrared on board Venus Express
Vandaele, A. C.; Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A. +8 more
Solar Occultation at Infrared (SOIR), which is a part of the Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus (SPICAV) instrument on board Venus Express, combines an echelle-grating spectrometer with an acoustooptical tunable filter. It performs solar occultation measurements in the IR region at a high spectral resoluti…
Induced magnetosphere and its outer boundary at Venus
Barabash, S.; Russell, C. T.; Wei, H. Y. +8 more
The induced magnetosphere at Venus consists of regions near the planet and its wake for which the magnetic pressure dominates all other pressure contributions. Initial Venus Express measurements indicate a well-defined outer boundary, the magnetopause, of the induced magnetosphere. This magnetopause acts as an obstacle to deflect the solar wind. A…
Mirror-mode-like structures in Venus' induced magnetosphere
Zhang, T. L.; Glassmeier, K. -H.; Baumjohann, W. +3 more
The solar wind interaction with Venus creates an induced magnetosphere around the planet. It is shown that within the space bound by Venus' bow shock and ionopause, there is a rich occurrence of mirror-mode-like structures in the magnetic field data. The dayside magnetosheath and nightside magnetosheath/wake regions are investigated separately. It…
Morphology and dynamics of Venus oxygen airglow from Venus Express/Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer observations
Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Drossart, P. +5 more
Images obtained by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS)-M channel instrument onboard Venus Express have been used to retrieve maps and apparent motions of the O2 (1Δ) infrared nightglow on Venus at 1.27 µm. The nightglow distribution is highly inhomogeneous with the regions of brightest emissio…
Venus Express observations of atmospheric oxygen escape during the passage of several coronal mass ejections
Fedorov, A.; Barabash, S.; Futaana, Y. +7 more
The solar wind interaction contributes to the loss of Venus atmospheric constituents, especially oxygen, by direct antisunward acceleration of planetary ions and possibly by related sputtering of neutrals. Both comet-like ``ion pickup'' and related sputtering processes may have played a key role in Venus' atmosphere evolution, but the significance…
First observations of SO2 above Venus' clouds by means of Solar Occultation in the Infrared
Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A.; Korablev, O. +6 more
Solar Occultation in the Infrared (SOIR) is a part of the Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus (SPICAV)/SOIR occultation experiment on board Venus Express dedicated to the study of gaseous and aerosol vertical structure of Venus' mesosphere. SOIR is an echelle spectrometer with acoustooptic selection of diff…