Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data

Details Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data

Feb 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004esasp.544...63g&link_type=abstract

In: Proceedings of the International Workshop Planetary Probe Atmospheric Entry and Descent Trajectory Analysis and Science, 6-9

Computer Science

Venus, Venera, Titan, Huygens

Scientific paper

Radiance measurements by an entry probe during its descent through the atmosphere allow to retrieve a vertical profile of the optical properties. The retrieval problem is in principle similar for the Venera probes, the last of which landed on Venus in 1982, and the Huygens probe, which will land on Titan in January 2005. However, for the optically very thick atmosphere of Venus, an approximation of the angular dependence of the radiance allows an analytical retrieval of the optical properties, while this is not possible for the optically less thick atmosphere of Titan. Therefore the Titan Inverse Radiation Model (TIRM) has been developed, which numerically computes the radiative transfer and estimates optical properties by assimilating measurements from the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer of the Huygens probe. Both methods - the analytical approximation and a modified version of TIRM - are used to estimate the extinction profile throughout Venus' atmosphere from Venera spectrophotometer measurements. We find a pronouced layer of increased extinction at an altitude of 1-2 km above the surface indicated by the data of Venera 13 as well as by the data of Venera 14. This can be interpreted as a cloud deck. It may be related to surface areas of high radar reflectivity and low radio emissivity which can be noticed at higher elevations in the Magellan Venus orbiter data. The material forming the cloud deck and accumulating onto the highlands of Venus could be small solid particles of PbS (galena) or Bi2S3 (bismuthite).

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Indication of a near surface cloud layer on Venus from reanalysis of Venera 13/14 spectrophotometer data will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1018660