Venus Weather Not Boring After All, Scientists Discover

Science Daily ^ | Tuesday, September 27, 2011 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center et al

[SunkenCiv]

...at the surface, the planet roasts at more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit under a suffocating blanket of sulfuric acid clouds and a crushing atmosphere more than 90 times the pressure of Earth's...

However, higher up, the weather gets more interesting, according to a new study of old data by NASA and international scientists. The team detected strange things going on in data from telescopic observations of Venus in infrared light at about 68 miles (110 kilometers) above the planet's surface, in cold, clear air above the acid clouds, in two layers called the mesosphere and the thermosphere.

...said Dr. Theodor Kostiuk of NASA Goddard. "In Earth's atmosphere, a circulation pattern called a 'Hadley cell' occurs when warm air rises over the equator and flows toward the poles, where it cools and sinks. Since the atmosphere is denser closer to the surface, the descending air gets compressed and warms the upper atmosphere over Earth's poles. We saw the opposite on Venus. In addition, although the surface temperature is fairly even, we've seen substantial changes -- up to 54 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 K change) -- within a few Earth days in the mesosphere -- thermosphere layers over low latitudes on Venus. The poles appeared to be more stable, but we still saw changes up to 27 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15 K change)."

[SunkenCiv]

A set of images of the Venus south polar vortex in infrared light (at 3.8 microns) acquired by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument on ESA's Venus Express spacecraft. The images show the temperature of the cloud tops at about 65 km (40.4 miles) altitude. A darker region corresponds to higher temperature and thus lower altitude. The center of the vortex, at a temperature of about 250K (around minus 9.7 degrees Fahrenheit), is the deepest zone, exhibiting the highest temperature. (Credit: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA)

[SunkenCiv]

An “extra extra” ping.

[SunkenCiv]

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[CGalen]

When are they going to find a planet out there that is “BETTER” than earth?

It seems odd that Earth would be the best planet in the entire universe, what are the odds on that?

As big as the universe is, there should be a Utopian planet out there.

[cripplecreek]

Colonoscophy photos?

[cripplecreek]

Utopia is where you find it. Earth is pretty utopian aside from all these liberals.

[decimon]

Boring? “Escape the winter blues,” they said. “Warmest winter getaway,” they said. Well, it was warm alright but the most boring place I’ve ever vacationed.

[NavyCanDo]

Unless they find those green-skin Orion slave girls there, or maybe Venetian amazonian women, then Venus is way to boring for me. I don’t care what the weather is like.

[Sea Parrot]

Of Katy Couric’s.

[Texas Songwriter]

It looks like bronchoscopy just beyond the bifurcation of the trachae, looking into the right and left bronchi.

[Psycho_Bunny]

What a stupid headline. I defy them to find any past quote from any credible astronomer describing the weather of Venus as “boring”

[SunkenCiv]

Utopia, metopia, theytopia, wetopia, mytopia, yourtopia, theirtopia, hetopic, shetopia...

We have not yet begun to look. :’)

[Sawdring]

Mother nature will often repeat herself with the same shapes for different applications.

[colorado tanker]

Those Venusian amazons are mighty purty.

[SeaHawkFan]

Only someone sucking on the government teat would find it “no boring”.

Who cares about the weather on Venus and what does it have to do with anything important?

[NavyCanDo]

Now that's what I'm talking about. Now there is some motivation to get NASA back in the Space business.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)