Possibility of lightning in the Venusian clouds due to Super-rotation

Abstract

<p>Lightning in Venus is still a matter of debate due to lack of evidence in optical and simultaneous radio emissions. Several evidence of electromagnetic emissions were previously measured by various landers and orbiters studying Venus atmosphere such as the Venera 13 and 14 landers, Venus Express and the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. This theoretical work proposes the mechanism of lightning is possibly due to the super-rotation of the clouds. Excessive amount of atmospheric turbulence and the formation of plumes in the clouds of Venus should possibly lead to the formation of charges in the clouds and thereby trigger lightning. As per Lorenz 2018, it is expected that there might exist charged aerosols in the lower atmosphere. This imposes another possibility of triboelectric charging mechanism which lead to lightning in the lower and middle cloud region. Lightning induced electromagnetic emissions that takes place in the clouds might be a result of momentum transfer and charge dispersion in the clouds of Venus. Venus can be considered to be an optically active planet with phenomenon like reflection and refraction ruling to some extent which possibly imposes a difficulty in lightning detection as the photons emitted during this process are scattered away. In the end, the possible lightning mechanism and difficulties related to its detection shall be discussed</p>