Characteristics of planetary-scale waves simulated by a new venusian mesosphere and thermosphere general circulation model

Abstract

We have developed a new general circulation model (GCM) for the venusian mesosphere and thermosphere (80-about 180 km). Our GCM simulations show that winds in the subsolar-to-antisolar direction (SS–AS) are predominant above about 90 km. A weak return flow of the SS–AS is seen below about 90 km. We performed GCM simulations imposing the planetary-scale waves (thermal tides, Rossby wave, and Kelvin wave) at the lower boundary. Although the diurnal and semidiurnal tides are damped below 95 km, the Rossby wave propagates up to around 130 km. However, the amplitude of the Rossby wave is too small (<1 m/s) to affect the general circulation. On the other hand, the Kelvin wave propagates up to about 130 km with a maximum zonal wind fluctuation of approximately 5.9 m/s on average. The amplitude of the Kelvin wave sometimes exceeds 10 m/s around the terminator. The Kelvin wave causes a temporal variation in the wind velocity at the altitude of the O 2-1.27 μm nightglow emission (about 95 km). Using a newly developed 1-D nightglow model and the composition distribution calculated from our GCM, we investigated the impact of the Kelvin wave on the nightglow distribution. Our results suggest that the Kelvin wave would cause temporal variations in the nightglow emission in the 23:50–00:20 LT region with an intensity of 1.1–1.3 MR and a period of approximately 4 days.