First Results from VIRTIS on Venus Express1. From Surface to Cloud Level

Details First Results from VIRTIS on Venus Express1. From Surface to Cloud Level First Results from VIRTIS on Venus Express1. From Surface to Cloud Level

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1601p&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #16.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.510

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

VIRTIS is the imaging spectrometer of the ESA/Venus Express mission, in orbit around Venus since 2006, April 11th. It consists in two channels : VIRTIS-M, an imaging spectrometer with 0.25 mrad instantaneous field of view, working from 0.3 to 1 μm at 2nm spectral sampling (VIRTIS-M-vis) and from 1 to 5.2 μm at 10 nm resolution (VIRTIS-M-ir) and VIRTIS-H, a high resolution spectrometer working from 1.9 to 5.0 μm on an aperture of 0.58 x 1.74 mrad at 2000 resolving power. The main scientific objectives for the lower part of the atmosphere are the following:

• Surface characteristics
  
• Composition of the lower atmosphere, and spatial or temporal variations (night side)
  
• Cloud structure (composition, scattering properties, and dynamics)
  
• Thermal structure

An important new result from VIRTIS is the first detailed study of the South polar vortex. This feature exhibits unique characteristics of essential importance for the understanding of the global dynamics of Venus. The rotation of the vortex is observed by VIRTIS at different altitudes for different wavelengths. The vortex has a complex structure, exhibiting high thermal contrasts and filamentary clouds forming an inverse "S” shape. The 1.7 μm and 2.3 μm spectral images, observed in the night side within these deep atmospheric windows, are the first observations of the deep structure of the vortex. Future observations during the Venus Express mission will allow us to continue the vortex observation to study its long term variations.

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