Advancing Venus Atmospheric Modeling via Coordinated HST-Akatsuki Observations

Kandis Lea Jessup (1) , Takeshi Imamura (2) , M. Nakamura (2) , Franklin Mills (3) , Emmanuel Marcq (4) , Sanjay Limaye (5) , Colin Wilson (6) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (4) , Eliot Young (1) , Tibor Kremic (7)

1 SwRI - Southwest Research Institute [Boulder]
2 ISAS - Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
3 SSI - Space Science Institute [Boulder]
4 PLANETO - LATMOS
5 University of Wisconsin-Madison
6 Clarendon Laboratory [Oxford]
7 NASA Glenn Research Center

Venus' global-scale H₂SO₄ cloud and haze layers form via the combination of SO₃ and H₂O, and SO₃ forms via oxidation of SO₂. Sulfur-bearing and sulfur-oxidized species, such as SO₂ , SO, S, OCS, H₂ O₄ , are key traces of Venus' H₂SO₄ cloud/haze formation process. These species are also important tracers of the ongoing chemical evolution of Venus' atmosphere, atmospheric dynamics, and the level/history of active volcanism occurring on the planet. However, the specific pathways (which may be chemical, microphysical and/or dynamical) that balance the budget of sulfur (and oxidized sulfur) in Venus' atmosphere are ill-defined, as are the mechanisms that sustain the density of the clouds. As result, Venus' climate evolution is ill-defined, and understanding Venus' sulfur-budget is highlighted as an important Venus exploration target.

Domains: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]

Kandis Lea Jessup, Takeshi Imamura, M. Nakamura, Franklin Mills, Emmanuel Marcq, et al.. Advancing Venus Atmospheric Modeling via Coordinated HST-Akatsuki Observations. 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Mar 2016, The Woodlands, Texas, United States. ⟨insu-01281655⟩