Images from Galileo of the Venus Cloud Deck
Abstract
Images of Venus taken at 418 (violet) and 986 [near-infrared (NIR)] nanometers show that the morphology and motions of large-scale features change with depth in the cloud deck. Poleward meridional velocities, seen in both spectral regions, are much reduced in the NIR. In the south polar region the markings in the two wavelength bands are strongly anticorrelated. The images follow the changing state of the upper cloud layer downwind of the subsolar point, and the zonal flow field shows a longitudinal periodicity that may be coupled to the formation of large-scale planetary waves. No optical lightning was detected.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- September 1991
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1991Sci...253.1531B
- Keywords:
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- Cloud Cover;
- Galileo Project;
- Infrared Imagery;
- Satellite Imagery;
- Venus Clouds;
- Flyby Missions;
- Near Infrared Radiation;
- Planetary Waves;
- Polar Regions;
- Zonal Flow (Meteorology);
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration