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Structure of the Venus neutral atmosphere as observed by the Radio Science experiment VeRa on Venus Express
Tellmann, Silvia; Tyler, G. Leonard; Pätzold, Martin +2 more
The European Space Agency Venus Express Radio Science experiment (VeRa) obtained 118 radio occultation measurements of the Venusian atmosphere between July 2006 and June 2007. Southern latitudes are uniformly sampled; measurements in the northern hemisphere are concentrated near the pole. Radial profiles of neutral number density derived from the …
Altimetry of the Venus cloud tops from the Venus Express observations
Roatsch, Th.; Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G. +6 more
Simultaneous observations of Venus by Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer and Venus Monitoring Camera onboard the Venus Express spacecraft are used to map the cloud top altitude and to relate it to the ultraviolet (UV) markings. The cloud top altitude is retrieved from the depth of CO2 absorption band at 1.6 µm. In l…
Venus Express mission
Witasse, O.; Svedhem, H.; Titov, D. +1 more
Venus Express is well and healthy and has now been providing exciting new data from Venus, our nearby twin planet, for over 2 years. Many of the new results are presented and discussed in the subsequent papers in this special section. The overall scientific objective of Venus Express is to carry out a detailed study of the atmosphere of Venus, inc…
Preliminary characterization of the upper haze by SPICAV/SOIR solar occultation in UV to mid-IR onboard Venus Express
Vandaele, A. C.; Montmessin, F.; Fedorova, A. +6 more
The Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus/Solar Occultation at Infrared (SPICAV/SOIR) suite of instruments onboard the Venus Express spacecraft comprises three spectrometers covering a wavelength range from ultraviolet to midinfrared and an altitude range from 70 to >100 km. However, it is only recently (m…
Near-IR oxygen nightglow observed by VIRTIS in the Venus upper atmosphere
Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G.; García Muñoz, A. +5 more
We present observations of both the (0-0) and (0-1) bands at 1.27 and 1.58 µm of the O2(a1Δg - X3Σg -) nightglow made with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument aboard Venus Express. The observations were conducted in both nadir and limb vie…
Venus cloud top winds from tracking UV features in Venus Monitoring Camera images
Jaumann, R.; Hviid, S. F.; Matz, K. -D. +10 more
To date dynamical observations of the Venus clouds have delivered mainly either only short-term or long-term averaged results. With the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) it finally became possible to investigate the global dynamics with a relatively high resolution in space and time on a long-term basis. Our findings from manual cloud feature wind tra…
Plasma environment of Venus: Comparison of Venus Express ASPERA-4 measurements with 3-D hybrid simulations
Barabash, S.; Lundin, R.; Krupp, N. +13 more
We use data of the ASPERA-4 ion and electron spectrometers onboard Venus Express to determine the locations and shapes of the plasma boundaries (bow shock, ion composition boundary, and mantle) at Venus. We also investigate the variation of the terminator bow shock position as a function of the solar wind dynamic pressure and solar EUV flux. We co…
Water vapor abundance near the surface of Venus from Venus Express/VIRTIS observations
Drossart, Pierre; Bézard, Bruno; Marcq, Emmanuel +3 more
Nightside observations of the 1.18-µm atmospheric window by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) aboard the Venus Express spacecraft were analyzed to measure and map the water vapor abundance in the lower atmosphere. Thermal emission in this window originates partly from the surface and partly from the first scale h…
Visible and near-infrared nightglow of molecular oxygen in the atmosphere of Venus
Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G.; García Muñoz, A. +2 more
The Herzberg II system of O2 has been a known feature of Venus' nightglow since the Venera 9 and 10 orbiters detected its c(0)-X(v″) progression more than 3 decades ago. We search for its emission at 400 nm-700 nm in spectra obtained with the VIRTIS instrument on Venus Express. Despite the weakness of the signal, integration over a few …
Evidence for carbonyl sulfide (OCS) conversion to CO in the lower atmosphere of Venus
Bézard, B.; Marcq, E.; Yung, Yuk L. +4 more
The chemical regimes in the atmosphere of Venus vary from photochemistry in the middle atmosphere to thermal equilibrium chemistry in the lower atmosphere and the surface. Many chemical cycles have been proposed, but few details about these cycles are fully verified by comparison between observations and modeling. Recent high-quality data of carbo…