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Author Correction: Atmospheric mountain wave generation on Venus and its influence on the solid planet's rotation rate

Lebonnois, S.; Navarro, T.; Schubert, G.

In the version of this Article originally published, a statement regarding past measurements of the length of day and rotation rate of Venus was potentially misleading. The original statement has now been replaced in the online versions of this Article, to acknowledge that neither Magellan nor Venus Express measured an instantaneous rotation rate.

Variations of sulphur dioxide at the cloud top of Venus's dynamic atmosphere

Montmessin, Franck; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Marcq, Emmanuel +1 more

Sulphur dioxide is a million times more abundant in the atmosphere of Venus than that of Earth, possibly as a result of volcanism on Venus within the past billion years. A tenfold decrease in sulphur dioxide column density above Venus's clouds measured by the Pioneer Venus spacecraft during the 1970s and 1980s has been interpreted as decline follo…

A chaotic long-lived vortex at the southern pole of Venus

Hueso, R.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Drossart, P. +3 more

Polar vortices are common in the atmospheres of rapidly rotating planets. On Earth and Mars, vortices are generated by surface temperature gradients and their strength is modulated by the seasonal insolation cycle. Slowly rotating Venus lacks pronounced seasonal forcing, but vortices are known to occur at both poles, in an atmosphere that rotates …

Photolysis of sulphuric acid as the source of sulphur oxides in the mesosphere of Venus

Montmessin, Franck; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Zhang, Xi +3 more

The sulphur cycle plays fundamental roles in the chemistry and climate of Venus. Thermodynamic equilibrium chemistry at the surface of Venus favours the production of carbonyl sulphide and to a lesser extent sulphur dioxide. These gases are transported to the middle atmosphere by the Hadley circulation cell. Above the cloud top, a sulphur oxidatio…