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Bertaux JL, Vandaele AC, Korablev O, Villard E, Fedorova A, Fussen D, Quémerais E, Belyaev D, Mahieux A, Montmessin F, Muller C, Neefs E, Nevejans D, Wilquet V, Dubois JP, Hauchecorne A, Stepanov A, Vinogradov I, Rodin A, Bertaux JL, Nevejans D, Korablev O, Montmessin F, Vandaele AC, Fedorova A, Cabane M, Chassefière E, Chaufray JY, Dimarellis E, Dubois JP, Hauchecorne A, Leblanc F, Lefèvre F, Rannou P, Quémerais E, Villard E, Fussen D, Muller C, Neefs E, Van Ransbeeck E, Wilquet V, Rodin A, Stepanov A, Vinogradov I, Zasova L, Forget F, Lebonnois S, Titov D, Rafkin S, Durry G, Gérard JC, Sandel B. A warm layer in Venus' cryosphere and high-altitude measurements of HF, HCl, H2O and HDO. Nature 2008; 450:646-9. [PMID: 18046397 DOI: 10.1038/nature05974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 146] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2007] [Accepted: 05/22/2007] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Venus has thick clouds of H2SO4 aerosol particles extending from altitudes of 40 to 60 km. The 60-100 km region (the mesosphere) is a transition region between the 4 day retrograde superrotation at the top of the thick clouds and the solar-antisolar circulation in the thermosphere (above 100 km), which has upwelling over the subsolar point and transport to the nightside. The mesosphere has a light haze of variable optical thickness, with CO, SO2, HCl, HF, H2O and HDO as the most important minor gaseous constituents, but the vertical distribution of the haze and molecules is poorly known because previous descent probes began their measurements at or below 60 km. Here we report the detection of an extensive layer of warm air at altitudes 90-120 km on the night side that we interpret as the result of adiabatic heating during air subsidence. Such a strong temperature inversion was not expected, because the night side of Venus was otherwise so cold that it was named the 'cryosphere' above 100 km. We also measured the mesospheric distributions of HF, HCl, H2O and HDO. HCl is less abundant than reported 40 years ago. HDO/H2O is enhanced by a factor of approximately 2.5 with respect to the lower atmosphere, and there is a general depletion of H2O around 80-90 km for which we have no explanation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Loup Bertaux
- Service d'Aéronomie du CNRS/IPSL, Verrières-le-Buisson 91371, France.
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Maksimovic M, Zouganelis I, Chaufray JY, Issautier K, Scime EE, Littleton JE, Marsch E, McComas DJ, Salem C, Lin RP, Elliott H. Radial evolution of the electron distribution functions in the fast solar wind between 0.3 and 1.5 AU. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2005. [DOI: 10.1029/2005ja011119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 265] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- M. Maksimovic
- LESIA and CNRS; Observatoire de Paris-Meudon; Meudon France
| | - I. Zouganelis
- LESIA and CNRS; Observatoire de Paris-Meudon; Meudon France
| | - J.-Y. Chaufray
- LESIA and CNRS; Observatoire de Paris-Meudon; Meudon France
| | - K. Issautier
- LESIA and CNRS; Observatoire de Paris-Meudon; Meudon France
| | - E. E. Scime
- Department of Physics; West Virginia University; Morgantown West Virginia USA
| | - J. E. Littleton
- Department of Physics; West Virginia University; Morgantown West Virginia USA
| | - E. Marsch
- Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung; Katlenburg-Lindau Germany
| | - D. J. McComas
- Space Science and Engineering Division; Southwest Research Institute; San Antonio Texas USA
| | - C. Salem
- Space Sciences Laboratory; University of California; Berkeley California USA
| | - R. P. Lin
- Space Sciences Laboratory; University of California; Berkeley California USA
| | - H. Elliott
- Space Science and Engineering Division; Southwest Research Institute; San Antonio Texas USA
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