The impact of gravity waves on the Venus thermosphere and O2 IR nightglow

Abstract

The terrestrial Fritts and Lu [1993] gravity wave parameterization, based on the theory of wave saturation, has been adopted within the Venus thermospheric general circulation model (VTGCM) to examine the impact of upward propagating gravity waves on the Venus thermospheric subsolar‐to‐antisolar (SS‐AS) circulation and the resultant O2 IR nightglow. It is shown that the drag force generated by the breakdown of gravity waves can effectively slow down the winds, which results in reproducing the observed day/night contrasts in temperatures and densities. With stronger drag force on the dawn terminator than on the dusk terminator, the apparently superrotating zonal wind can be forced by the dissipation of gravity waves. The equivalent superrotating zonal wind varies both with local time and altitude. The simulated distribution of the O2 IR nightglow is strongly sensitive to small changes of the characteristic intrinsic phase speeds at the model lower boundary. This sensitivity implies that minor variations in gravity wave momentum fluxes to the thermosphere can give rise to large O2 IR emission variations with time and space, in agreement with ground‐based observations.