Global Mean Cloud Coverage On Venus In The Near-Infrared

Details Global Mean Cloud Coverage On Venus In The Near-Infrared Global Mean Cloud Coverage On Venus In The Near-Infrared

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.6207t&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #62.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.513

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present a map of the global mean lower cloud coverage of Venus. This map is the average of 35 nights of 2.26 μm night side observations taken at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, over the years spanning 2001-2007. By studying average cloud coverage, the significant daily variations are suppressed in order to see the underlying persistent cloud pattern, which can provide information regarding the processes that generate clouds. We find a relatively thick but highly variable equatorial band of clouds (±20; degrees in latitude) and more quiescent mid-latitude clouds that are less opaque on average, with persistent cloudiness near the poles. We show that there is enough variation between our daily observations or between observations taken in different months that they cannot be considered individually representative of the global mean. Only when looking over a long temporal baseline did we see the underlying patterns. We present examples of the persistence (and lack thereof) of cloud morphology over a period of two to three days. By studying individual clouds we track opacity variations with respect to viewing geometry. We also compare the cloud coverage map to the topography of Venus and find no definitive correlations with high altitude features.
This work has been supported by NASA's Planetary Astronomy and Planetary Atmospheres programs.

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