Double vortex at Venus South Pole unveiled!

European Space Agency ^ | 27 June 2006

[A. Pole]

Double vortex at Venus South pole

ESA’s Venus Express data undoubtedly confirm for the first time the presence of a huge 'double-eye' atmospheric vortex at the planet's south pole. This striking result comes from analysis of the data gathered by the spacecraft during the first orbit around the planet.
 
On 11 April this year, Venus Express was captured into a first elongated orbit around Venus, which lasted 9 days, and ranged between 350 000 and 400 kilometres from Venus' surface. This orbit represented for the Venus Express scientists a unique opportunity to observe the planet from large distances. This made it possible to obtain first clues about the Venusian atmospheric dynamics on a global scale, before the spacecraft got closer and started observing the planet in greater detail.
 
 

	Venus's southern hemisphere in infrared

During this first orbit – called the 'capture orbit' – some of the Venus Express instruments were used to perform the first observations at different distances from Venus, for a few hours per time on six different slots between 12 and 19 April 2006.

Amazing infrared, visible and ultraviolet images of the Venusian globe already reveal several atmospheric features of great interest. The most striking of these is a huge, double-eye atmospheric vortex over the south pole, not dissimilar from the equivalent structure present at the north pole – the only one previously studied in some detail.
 
 

Mariner 10 and Pioneer Venus views of Venus south pole

Only glimpses of the stormy atmospheric behaviour at the south pole were obtained by previous missions (Pioneer Venus and Mariner 10), but such a double-eye structure was never clearly seen before now.
 
 
High velocity winds are known to spin westwards around the planet, and to take only four days to complete a rotation. This 'super-rotation', combined with the natural recycling of hot air in the atmosphere, would induce the formation of a vortex structure over each pole. But why two vortexes?
 
 

	Infrared views of south polar double-vortex

"We still know very little about the mechanisms by which the super-rotation and the polar vortexes are linked," said Håkan Svedhem, ESA’s Venus Express Project Scientist. "Also, we are still not able to explain why the global atmospheric circulation of the planet results in a double and not single vortex formation at the poles. However the mission is just at the beginning and it's doing fine; we expect this and many other long-standing mysteries to be addressed and possibly solved by Venus Express," he added. Atmospheric vortexes are very complex structures that are very difficult to model, even on Earth.

Thanks to these first pictures, it has also been possible to observe the presence of a collar of cold air around the vortex structure, possibly due to the recycling of cold air downwards.
 
 

Atmospheric stripe-like features at Venus

Views of the southern hemisphere of Venus in visible and ultraviolet light show interesting atmospheric stripe-like structures. Spotted for the first time by Mariner 10 in the 1970s, they may be due to the presence of dust and aerosols in the atmosphere, but their true nature is still unexplained. "Venus Express has the tools to investigate these structures in detail," added Svedhem. "Studies have already begun to dig into the properties of the complex wind fields on Venus, to understand the atmospheric dynamics on local and global scales."

Venus Express also made use for the first time ever from orbit of the so-called 'infrared windows' present in the atmosphere of Venus – if observed at certain wavelengths, it is possible to detect thermal radiation leaking from the deepest atmospheric layers, revealing what lies beneath the dense cloud curtain situated at about 60 kilometres altitude.
 
 

	Views of Venus day and night side

The first infrared images making use of the ‘windows’ show complex cloud structures, all revealed by the thermal radiation coming up from different atmospheric depths. In the colour scheme shown in the image at right, the brighter the colour (that is, the more radiation comes up from the lower layers), the less cloudy is the observed area.

During capture orbit, preliminary data about the chemical composition of the atmosphere were also retrieved. Venus’ atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide (CO2). The incoming solar radiation dissociates this molecule into carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen in the upper atmospheric layers. In fact, Venus Express has already spotted the presence of an oxygen (O2) airglow high in the atmosphere. However, Venus Express has revealed the presence of carbon monoxide as low as the cloud-layer top.

Scientists will continue the data analysis and retrieval to understand the phenomenon, which is very important to clarify the complex chemical processes and cycles at work in the atmosphere of Venus under the influence of solar radiation.
 
 

Venus as seen by Venus Express on capture orbit

Since 7 May 2006 Venus Express has been circling the planet in its final 24-hour orbit, ranging between 66 000 and 250 kilometres from Venus - therefore at much closer distances with respect to the capture orbit. Venus Express scientists are now analysing the new data coming in, which already show what seems to be exciting new features. “We have never seen Venus in such great detail so far. We are eagerly waiting for these new data to be available,” concluded Svedhem.

[BenLurkin]

That's what my stomach feels like tonight.

[Darkwolf377]

It's a quantum singularity, so all we need do is fire a beam of neutrinos into it and PRESTO! It will a. carry us back in time, or b. stop the expansion of the hole in spacetime c. whatever else the writer needs to happen...

Oh, sorry, got lost in the terminology...

Seems Mars has always stolen the thunder from Venus in the cultural imagination, because you can SEE the surface. People just assume Venus is always cloudy and thus there's no oppportunity for theories about lost civilizations.

[BenLurkin]

space ping

[BenLurkin]

Anything lost on Venus is likely to stay lost for a long time.

8^)

[WestVirginiaRebel]

So that's where Klingons come from!

[raygun]

ping

[BykrBayb]

I thought it was Kermit the Frog, floating in a keg.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"So that's where Klingons come from!"

I always thought Klingons hung around Uranus...

[DannyTN]

"they may be due to the presence of dust and aerosols in the atmosphere"

Venution hair spray caused global warming.

[DannyTN]

"Seems Mars has always stolen the thunder from Venus in the cultural imagination"

I've always thought Venus was a better candidate for terraforming because of the thick atmosphere. If we could engineer some microbes and plants to start trapping toxic substances in the atmosphere, we could start making changes that could eventually result in the planet being habitable.

[Darkwolf377]

That's a good point---more to work with.

Let's call Dr. Gregory Benford and see if he can get this going...

[DannyTN]

Let's call Dr. Gregory Benford and see if he can get this going...

I'm serious. Take some of the bacteria that grows in sulfur vents and gets it's energy from sulfur instead of sunlight. Genetically alter it until you have several strands that can tolerate a variety of PH conditions including some extreme ones. And then fire a collection of them onto Venus. And see what happens.

[JoeFromSidney]

And then fire a collection of them onto Venus. And see what happens.

The first thing that would happen is that the Greens would throw a hissy-fit over violation of international treaties about contaminating planets with Earth life.

[chemicalman]

Hmmm. That was my 1st guess. Global warming.

[DannyTN]

"The first thing that would happen is that the Greens would throw a hissy-fit over violation of international treaties about contaminating planets with Earth life."

Someone would. But I think most people would be in favor of it.

[Darkwolf377]

I'm serious, too, actually. Benford could be the new Carl Sagan if he had the desire.

[gridlock]

Looks like somebody dialed the Venusian Stargate to P3W-451. Too bad for Venus!

[voletti]

Seems Mars has always stolen the thunder from Venus in the cultural imagination, because you can SEE the surface. People just assume Venus is always cloudy and thus there's no oppportunity for theories about lost civilizations.
There's also this small matter of Venus having an avg surface temp of roughly 400 deg celcius! I really doubt ANY civilization could've taken rot there, ever. Mars on the other hand, was once warmer and had water and a half-decent atmospheric covering. My vote is for mars to be further explored for signs of past life.

[Larry Lucido]

Thanks. I'll change my travel plans.