Venus Atmosphere: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions

Dear Colleagues,

There is currently a considerable effort being made from the science community to study Venus' atmosphere. Nevertheless, the knowledge of all mechanisms at work in Venus' atmosphere still remains limited. An understanding of the dominant factors and mechanisms controlling the atmosphere’s general circulation and its chemical composition is a prerequisite to our understanding of the planet’s climate variability and evolution. In this context, Venus is a natural comparative laboratory that can be used to investigate the diversity of circulation regimes and the composition of terrestrial planets' atmospheres. Moreover, this Special Issue also intends to contribute to the subsequent scientific space missions traveling to Venus (EnVision-ESA, DAVINCI and VERITAS-NASA), which will address many fundamental questions that remain unanswered. In the context of this framework, this Special Issue welcomes research that investigates the geological interface between Venus' dense atmosphere, its surface and its interior.

The questions that remain unanswered include the following: how does Venus lose its heat over time? Were there oceans on primordial Venus? What is the history of Venus’ volcanism, tectonics and its atmosphere’s temporal evolution?

Planetary atmospheres typically exhibit variability and weather patterns on many scales, as is the case for the continuously evolving polar vortex on Venus. The study of gravity waves is also essential to explain atmospheric circulation on Venus, since they provide a significant source of momentum and energy.

Recent observations made by Akatsuki and Venus Express and ground-based campaigns allowed scientists to conduct an unprecedented characterization of Venus' wind dynamics. At the same time, they engendered alternative questions, such as what are the processes control the transition region between the retrograde super-rotating zonal flow and day-to-night circulation? How does the interplay of planetary and small-scale waves control the circulation features?

This Special Issue intends to include research that contributes to the study of planetary atmospheres in the contect of understanding their physical, chemical and dynamical processes. On Venus, the temporal and spatial variability of wind, the role of waves and the mechanisms that allow topography to influence the upper cloud motions need to be addressed more efficiently. This Special Issue will also combine space and ground-based observations with state-of-the-art model simulations with the aim of improving our understanding of the atmospheres of our solar system’s planets. We welcome research that utilizes different observational techniques to measure the winds on Venus, models Venus’ atmosphere with GCM as well as investigations that foster the study of the chemical composition retrieval and radiative transfer related to Venus’ atmosphere.

Dr. Pedro MacHado
Guest Editor

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• venus' atmosphere
• venus’ interior
• venus' surface
• venus' surface/atmosphere interaction
• venus’ modeling