Water vapour in the lower atmosphere of venus: a new analysis of optical spectra measured by entry probes

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The first reliable identification of water vapour in the lower atmosphere of Venus was made in 1978 from optical spectra of sunlight penetrated through the planetary cloud cover. These spectra were measured by the Venera 11 entry probe. Later, similar measurements were carried out by the Venera 13 and 14 probes (1982). Since 1984 Earth-based observations of the near-infrared emission from Venus' nightside allowed for remote sounding of the lower atmosphere, including determination of the water vapour abundance. The results of these two sets of optical observations proved to be inconsistent in vertical distribution of H_2O. The goal of this paper is to reanalyze the Venera 11, 13, and 14 data to explore this contradiction. We have reinterpreted the data using recently available spectroscopic databases with a line-by-line procedure for calculation of the gaseous opacity and a discrete ordinates radiative transfer program to generate monochromatic intensity spectra. Contrary to the previous interpretation of the same data, mixing ratio was found to be nearly constant and equal to 30 +/- 10 ppm in the altitude range of 5-60 km. It seems likely that the H_2O mixing ratio varies slightly from 40 ppm in the clouds down to a minimum of 20 ppm at 10-20 km (model A), although another possibility of a constant 30 ppm profile (model B) also cannot be discarded. Both models are in good agreement with Earth-based observations within experimental errors of both datasets, so the earlier contradictions are eliminated. Also we find that there is no minimum of H_2O mixing ratio near the surface; furthermore, it probably increases up to 50-70 ppm at altitudes below 5 km.

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