Abstract

Importance of airglow and auroral emissions as tracers of Venus’ upper atmosphere dynamics and evolution

Highlights

  • Background and MotivationThe upper atmosphere of Venus is the location of many unveiling physical and chemical processes driving the atmospheric dynamics and transport, and a place where many puzzling questions on the origin and evolution of the current Venus’ atmosphere remain to be answered

  • This 50 km wide region is known as the Transition zone: at about 70km of altitude the lower and stable retrograde super-rotating zonal flow transitions to a subsolar/anti-solar circulation; at about 120km, the sub-solar/anti-solar circulation merges with, this time, a variable upper retrograde super-rotating zonal flow

  • By introducing the super-rotating winds observed on Venus, Brecht et al (2018) found that solar wind particles and electromagnetic fields were asymmetrically adding energy to the upper atmosphere [25]

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Summary

Introduction

Background and MotivationThe upper atmosphere of Venus is the location of many unveiling physical and chemical processes driving the atmospheric dynamics and transport, and a place where many puzzling questions on the origin and evolution of the current Venus’ atmosphere remain to be answered. There are key features, such as airglow and auroral emissions, that can be observed and used to help qualify and quantify the various interactions between Venus’ upper neutral atmosphere, its ionosphere, and the incoming solar wind.

Results
Conclusion

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