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| Titel |
Long-term monitoring SO2 above the clouds of Venus using SPICAV-UV in nadir mode |
| VerfasserIn |
Emmanuel Marcq, Denis Belyaev, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Anna Fedorova, Franck Montmessin |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2011
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 13 (2011) |
| Datensatznummer |
250047700
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Sulphur dioxide (SO2) has been measured at the cloud top level of Venus (- 72 km) since the
1980s, and long-term variability has been observed: a decrease in observable column density
during the 1980s and up to the early 1990s, when SO2 column density fell below the
detection threshold in the UV. Esposito et al. (1988) have interpreted this as an evidence for a
recent massive injection of SO2 due to some volcanic activity. Another possible interpretation
is that observable SO2 column density is controlled by the convective activity within and
above the clouds, the reservoir of SO2 being the lower atmosphere instead of volcanic
out-gassing.
A renewal of interest regarding SO2 is undergoing thanks to the success of the Venus
Express mission operating since 2006 which enables a long-term study of SO2 above the
clouds, mainly thanks to the SPICAV-SOIR instrument. UV nadir data have been recently
processed by Marcq et al. (2011) and showed that SO2 was detectable once again
above the clouds of Venus, with some indication that an enrichment event happened
during early 2007. Using the same methodology, we will present measurements of
observable SO2 column density during more recent orbits. Such a monitoring for several
years with a yet unprecedented spatial and temporal sampling using SPICAV in
conjunction with other instrumental data (both Earth and space-based) could help in a
better understanding of the process actually responsible for this spatial and temporal
variability.
Bibliography
L. W. Esposito et al., Sulphur dioxide at Venus cloud tops 1978-1986, Journ. of
Geophys. Res., 93 (1988)
E. Marcq et al., An investigation of the SO2 content of the Venusian atmosphere
using SPICAV-UV in nadir mode, Icarus, under press (2011) |
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