Morphology and Dynamics of Venus's Middle Clouds With Akatsuki/IR1

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 46; no. 5; pp. 2399 - 2407
• Main Authors: Peralta, J., Iwagami, N., Sánchez‐Lavega, A., Lee, Y. J., Hueso, R., Narita, M., Imamura, T., Miles, P., Wesley, A., Kardasis, E., Takagi, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 16.03.2019
• Subjects: Atmosphere; atmospheric dynamics; Cameras; Cloud patterns; Clouds; Dynamics; Equator; Exploration; Ground-based observation; Image contrast; Instruments; Japanese space program; Morphology; Optical thickness; remote sensing; Spatial discrimination; Spatial resolution; Superrotation; Venus; Venus atmosphere; Venus clouds; Venus Express (ESA); Venus surface; Wavelengths; Winds; Zonal winds
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2018GL081670

The Venusian atmosphere is covered by clouds with superrotating winds whose accelerating mechanism is still not well understood. The fastest winds, occurring at the cloud tops (∼70‐km height), have been studied for decades, thanks to their visual contrast in dayside ultraviolet images. The middle cl...