Apparently, if a weatherman were to inform us daily of theVenus meteorology, your job would be pretty boring. In general, the climate on this neighboring planet is characterized by430 degree surface temperatures, a sky covered with a suffocating mass of sulfuric acid clouds and an atmosphere with 90 times the pressure of the Earth.
In addition, unlike what happens on our planet, the passing of the seasons is not noticed either. “The Earth has seasons because its axis of rotation is tilted about 23 degrees, which changes the intensity of sunlight and the length of the day in each hemisphere throughout the year. However, Venus has tilted so much that it’s almost completely upside down, down to a net tilt of less than three degrees from the sun, so the seasonal effect is negligible, “explains Livengood of NASA’s Goddard Center. On the other hand, its orbit is more circular than that of the Earth, which prevents it from increasing or decreasing the temperature by moving closer or farther from the Sun. “And since the water of almost the entire planet has escaped into space,there is nothing like storms or rainfall on Earththat allow the water to evaporate and condense into clouds, “adds Livengood.
However, a new study of historical data from NASA and international scientists reveals that interesting things do happen 110 kilometers above the planet’s surface, in cold, clean air above acid clouds, in two layers called the mesosphere and thermosphere.
Altitude meteorology
“Although the air over the polar regions in the upper layers of Venus’ atmosphere is cooler than the air over the equator in most measurements, the measurements sometimes showed it to be warmer,” said Dr. Theodor Kostiuk, from the Goddard Center. “In Earth’s atmosphere, a circulation pattern called“Hadley cell”occurs when hot air rises above the equator and flows toward the poles, where it cools and sinks. “Since the atmosphere is denser near the surface, the descending air is compressed and heated in the upper atmosphere above The poles of the Earth, however, the opposite phenomenon has been seen on Venus.
Researchers have concluded thatVenus’s mesosphere and thermosphere are dynamically active and wind patternsAs a result of solar heating and zone winds from east to west, they possibly act by modifying local temperatures and their variability over time. On the other hand, the giant eddy vortices around each pole could generate turbulence and pressure changes causing the temperature to vary.
