Lightning detection on the Venus Express mission

Radio waves and optical flashes consistent with the lightning generation have been reported frequently at Venus. These observations point to the presence of electrical discharges in the sulfuric acid clouds of Venus. A particularly strong whistler-mode signal has been found propagating parallel to the magnetic field in the night ionosphere near 100 Hz by the Pioneer Venus spacecraft. At high (radio) frequencies, intermittent signals are also seen reminiscent of terrestrial lightning. However, these signals appear to be weaker than their terrestrial counterparts. On Venus Express, the magnetometer bandwidth is sufficient to record the lightning signals propagating in the whistler mode and will be used to map the occurrence of lightning across the nightside of the planet.     

Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Modeling of Lightning Observed in Galileo Images of Jupiter

We study lightning on Jupiter and the clouds illuminated by the lightning using images taken by the Galileo orbiter. The Galileo images have a resolution of ∼25 km/pixel and are able to resolve the shape of single lightning spots, which have half widths (radii) at half the maximum intensity in the range 45-80 km. We compare the shape and width of lightning flashes in the images with simulated flashes produced by our 3D Monte Carlo light-scattering model.The model calculates Monte Carlo scattering of photons in a 3D opacity distribution. During each scattering event, light is partially absorbed. The new direction of the photon after scattering is chosen according to a Henyey-Greenstein phase function. An image from each direction is produced by accumulating photons emerging from the cloud in a small range (bins) of emission angles. The light source is modeled either as a point or a vertical line.A plane-parallel cloud layer does not always fit the data. In some cases the cloud over the light source appears to resemble cumulus clouds on Earth. Lightning is estimated to occur at least as deep as the bottom of the expected water cloud. For the six flashes studied, we find that the clouds above the lightning are optically thick (τ>5). Jovian flashes are more regular and circular than the largest terrestrial flashes observed from space. On Jupiter there is nothing equivalent to the 30-40-km horizontal flashes that are seen on Earth.     

Venus lightning: Comparison with terrestrial lightning

Terrestrial lightning is generated by the separation of electric charge residing on water-ice particles in clouds, a few kilometers above the electrically conducting surface of the Earth. It is detected optically, electromagnetically, and aurally. The majority of discharges occur within or between clouds with about one third discharging to the surface of the Earth. Upward-propagating lightning also occurs with effects extending into the ionosphere. On Venus, the clouds are close to 50 km above the surface of the planet, where the temperatures and pressures are near those of Earth’s surface. In contrast the atmospheric pressure near the surface of Venus is nearly 100 times that of Earth. Thus, while intra- and inter-cloud lightning is expected to occur in a manner similar to that on Earth, we do not expect discharges from the clouds to the surface to occur. Upward-going lightning may be more frequent at Venus because the ionosphere is closer to the clouds. As at Earth, Venus lightning has been detected optically and electromagnetically from a variety of platforms. We find that some of the observed properties of lightning are different at the two planets. Many of the differences in the electromagnetic waves detected by spacecraft can be attributed to effects during ionospheric propagation to the spacecraft. We review the differences in the ionospheres of Earth and Venus and how they affect observations. We use both the Pioneer Venus electric antenna observations as well as the Venus Express magnetic measurements.     

Lightning activity on Jupiter

Photographic observations of the nightside of Jupiter by the Voyager 1 spacecraft show the presence of extensive lightning activity. Detection of whistlers by the plasma wave analyzer confirms the optical observations and implies that many flashes were not recorded by the Voyager camera because the intensity of the flashes was below the threshold sensitivity of the camera. Measurements of the optical energy radiated per flash indicate that the observed flashes had energies similar to that for terrestrial superbolts. The best estimate of the lightning energy dissipation rate of 0.4 × 10^?3 W/m² was derived from a consideration of the optical and radiofrequency measurements. The ratio of the energy dissipated by lightning compared to the convective energy flux is estimated to be between 0.27 × 10^?4 and 0.5 × 10^?4. The terrestrial value is 1 × 10^?4.     

Lightning generation in planetary atmospheres

The possibilities of lightning generation on other planets are considered, and the basic conditions that exist in terrestrial clouds during lightning discharges and the various theories of charge separation are reviewed. Recent measurements of cloud structure and whistlers, as well as optical observation of lightning on Jupiter, suggest that charge separation and lightning discharges occur on other planets in ways similar to those in which they occur on Earth. Using these terrestrial ideas, it is concluded that lightning on Venus will probably be found in clouds that are located in regions of convection such as those observed downwind of the subsolar point. It is also possible that if volcanoes on Venus are erupting, they too can produce lightning discharges in their plumes although it seems unlikely that this process can account for the observed rate of discharge. Jovian lightning is most probably generated in the lower water-ice clouds. These clouds are of moderate temperatures and have strong convection and large mass loading, all important ingredients for electrical buildup. Lightning is all but ruled out for Mars, even though some electrification is possible owing to the large dust storms on that planet.     

Properties of the clouds of Venus,as inferred from airborne observations of its near-infrared reflectivity spectrum

We have measured the shape and absolute value of Venus' reflectivity spectrum in the 1.2-to 4.0-μm spectral region with a circular variable filter wheel spectrometer having a spectral resolution of 1.5%. The instrument package was mounted on the 91-cm telescope of NASA Ames Kuiper Airborne Observatory, and the measurements were obtained at an altitude of about 41,000 feet, when Venus had a phase angle of 86°. Comparing these spectra with synthetic spectra generated with a multiple-scattering computer code, we infer a number of properties of the Venus clouds. We obtain strong confirmatory evidence that the clouds are made of a water solution of sulfuric acid in their top unit optical depth and find that the clouds are made of this material down to an optical depth of at least 25. In addition, we determine that the acid concentration is 84 ± 2% H_2SO4 by weight in the top unit optical depth, that the total optical depth of the clouds is 37.5 ± 12.5, and that the cross-sectional weighted mean particle radius lies between 0.5 and 1.4 μm in the top unit optical depth of the clouds. These results have been combined with a recent determination of the location of the clouds' bottom boundary [Marov et al., Cosmic Res.14, 637–642 (1976)] to infer additional properties about Venus' atmosphere. We find that the average volume mixing ratio of H₂SO₄ and H₂O contained in the cloud material both equal approximately 2× 10^?6. Employing vapor pressure arguments, we show that the acid concentration equals 84 ± 6% at the cloud bottom and that the water vapor mixing ratio beneath the clouds lies between 6 × 10^?4 and 10^?2.     

Production of nitrogen and carbon species by thunderstorms on Venus

The effects of the newly discovered thunderstorms on Venus upon the nitrogen and carbon species in its atmosphere were calculated. An Earth-like lightning frequency of 100 sec^?1 was used for Venus, in accord with recent optical measurements by Pioneer-Venus (W. J. Borucki, J. W. Dyer, G. Z. Thomas, J. C. Jordon, and D. A. Comstock, submitted for publication). The rate of NO production by thunder shock waves, 2.5 × 10¹¹ g year^?1, is about an order of magnitude smaller than on the Earth. But on Venus, in the absence of precipitation, which is the major removal mechanism of odd nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere, the mixing ratios of odd nitrogen species might be considerably higher. The global CO production is governed by CO₂ photolysis rather than by CO₂ pyrolysis by lightning. However, thunderstorms produce about 2.5 × 10¹¹ g year^?1 of CO in the cloud layer, far from the high altitude CO₂ photolysis region.     

Liquid content of the lower clouds of venus as determined from mariner 10 radio occultation

S-band (13.06-cm) and X-band (3.56-cm) radio occulation data obtained during the flyby of Venus by Mariner 10 on February 5, 1974 were analyzed to obtain the effects of dispersive microwave absorption by the clouds of Venus. The received power profiles were first corrected for the effects of refraction in the atmosphere of Venus, programmed changes in the pointing direction of the high-gain antenna, and limit-cycle motion of the spacecraft attitude control system. The resulting excess attenuation profiles presumbaly due to cloud absorption have been inverted discretely to obtain profiles of absorption coefficient at the two wavelenghts. The ratios of the absorptivities are consistent with a sulfuric acid-water mixture as the constituent of the absorbing clouds, having a sulfuric acid concentration of 75 ± 25%. Three absorption peaks are evident in the profiles at altitudes of 68, 60, and 48 km. With a sulfuric acid concentration of 75%, the upper cloud has a peak liquid content of 0.08 g/m³, and an integrated content of 0.024 g/cm², which corresponds roughly to terrestrial stratus or altostratus clouds. The major absorption layer has a peak of 1.1 g/m³ at an altitude of 48 km, with an integrated content of 0.5 g/cm², similar to that of terrestrial cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. The absorption ratios for the middle cloud at 60 km are not consistent with a sulfuric acid-water mixture.     

Plasma clouds above the ionopause of Venus and their implications

Early Pioneer Venus orbiter measurements by the Electron Temperature Probe (OETP) have revealed wavelike structures at the ionopause and clouds of plasma above the ionopause, features which may represent ionospheric plasma at different stages in its removal by solar wind-ionosphere interaction processes. Continuing operation of the orbiter through three Venus years has now provided enough additional examples of these features to permit their morphologies to be examined in some detail. The global distribution of the clouds suggests that they originate at the dayside ionopause as wavelike structures which may become detached and swept downstream in the ionosheath flow. Alternatively the clouds may actually be attached streamers analogous to cometary structure. Estimates of the total ion escape rate from Venus by this process yields values up to 7 × 10²⁶ ions s^?1, based on their measured transit times, their probability of occurrence, their statistical distribution and their average electron density. Preliminary analysis shows that such an excape flux could be supplied by the upward diffusion limited flow of 0⁺ from the entire dayside ionosphere. Observed distortions of dayside ionosphere height profiles suggest that such flows may be present much of the time. If such an escape flux were to continue over the entire lifetime of Venus, the effects upon the evolution of its primitive atmosphere may have been significant.     

Sulfuric acid aerosols in the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets

Clouds and hazes composed of sulfuric acid are observed to exist or postulated to have once existed on each of the terrestrial planets with atmospheres in our solar system. Venus today maintains a global cover of clouds composed of a sulfuric acid/water solution that extends in altitude from roughly 50 km to roughly 80 km. Terrestrial polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) form on stratospheric sulfuric acid aerosols, and both PSCs and stratospheric aerosols play a critical role in the formation of the ozone hole. Stratospheric aerosols can modify the climate when they are enhanced following volcanic eruptions, and are a current focus for geoengineering studies. Rain is made more acidic by sulfuric acid originating from sulfur dioxide generated by industry on Earth. Analysis of the sulfur content of Martian rocks has led to the hypothesis that an early Martian atmosphere, rich in SO₂ and H₂O, could support a sulfur-infused hydrological cycle. Here we consider the plausibility of frozen sulfuric acid in the upper clouds of Venus, which could lead to lightning generation, with implications for observations by the European Space Agency's Venus Express and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Venus Climate Orbiter (also known as Akatsuki). We also present simulations of a sulfur-rich early Martian atmosphere. We find that about 40 cm/yr of precipitation having a pH of about 2.0 could fall in an early Martian atmosphere, assuming a surface temperature of 273 K, and SO₂ generation rates consistent with the formation of Tharsis. This modeled acid rain is a powerful sink for SO₂, quickly removing it and preventing it from having a significant greenhouse effect.     

Scientific goals for the observation of Venus by VIRTIS on ESA/Venus express mission

The Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) on board the ESA/Venus Express mission has technical specifications well suited for many science objectives of Venus exploration. VIRTIS will both comprehensively explore a plethora of atmospheric properties and processes and map optical properties of the surface through its three channels, VIRTIS-M-vis (imaging spectrometer in the 0.3–1 μm range), VIRTIS-M-IR (imaging spectrometer in the 1–5 μm range) and VIRTIS-H (aperture high-resolution spectrometer in the 2–5 μm range). The atmospheric composition below the clouds will be repeatedly measured in the night side infrared windows over a wide range of latitudes and longitudes, thereby providing information on Venus's chemical cycles. In particular, CO, H₂O, OCS and SO₂ can be studied. The cloud structure will be repeatedly mapped from the brightness contrasts in the near-infrared night side windows, providing new insights into Venusian meteorology. The global circulation and local dynamics of Venus will be extensively studied from infrared and visible spectral images. The thermal structure above the clouds will be retrieved in the night side using the 4.3 μm fundamental band of CO₂. The surface of Venus is detectable in the short-wave infrared windows on the night side at 1.01, 1.10 and 1.18 μm, providing constraints on surface properties and the extent of active volcanism. Many more tentative studies are also possible, such as lightning detection, the composition of volcanic emissions, and mesospheric wave propagation.     

Planet-C: Venus Climate Orbiter mission of Japan

The Venus Climate Orbiter mission (PLANET-C), one of the future planetary missions of Japan, aims at understanding the atmospheric circulation of Venus. Meteorological information will be obtained by globally mapping clouds and minor constituents successively with four cameras at ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, detecting lightning with a high-speed imager, and observing the vertical structure of the atmosphere with radio science technique. The equatorial elongated orbit with westward revolution fits the observation of the movement and temporal variation of the atmosphere which as a whole rotates westward. The systematic, continuous imaging observations will provide us with an unprecedented large data set of the Venusian atmospheric dynamics. Additional targets of the mission are the exploration of the ground surface and the observation of zodiacal light. The mission will complement the ESA's Venus Express, which also explores the Venusian environment with different approaches.     

Chemical composition of Venus atmosphere and clouds: Some unsolved problems

In spite of many spacecrafts that visited Venus, chemical composition of the Venus atmosphere and clouds present many challenging problems in observation and theory. The following problems are briefly discussed below: (1) molecular oxygen above the clouds, (2) lightning, (3) the blue absorption in the clouds, (4) mode 3 particle controversy and the Vega X-ray fluorescent observations, (5) search for new chlorine and sulfur species, and (6) vertical and spatial variations of water vapor and CO.     

Large,solid particles in the clouds of Venus: Do they exist?

The discovery of large, solid particles in the clouds of Venus is one of the most significant findings of Pioneer Venus because it means that a substantial mass of the clouds is composed of a material other than sulfuric acid. The evidence which suggests that solid particles form a distinctive size mode is reexamined. The mode is defined by a discontinuity between two size ranges of the Pioneer Venus particle size spectrometer. This discontinuity could represent a real size mode. However, it could also be an artifact of the measurement technique. R. G. Knollenberg (1984) discusses several possible instrumental effects which might have caused this discontinuity. It is hypothesized herein that such effects did occur and that the large particles are really the tail of the mode 2 sulfuric acid particle size distribution and are not a separate mode of solid particles. Using such a revised size distribution, it is shown that all of the Pioneer Venus and Venera optical data from the lower clouds can be explained with sulfuric acid droplets without introducing any solid particles. As a by-product of this analysis, it is also found that the upper clouds of Venus must contain a material with a higher refractive index than sulfuric acid. A small quantity of sulfur could account for this observation.     

Optical signature of Venus lightning as seen from space

The calculations of M. A. Williams, L. W. Thomason, and D. M. Hunten (Icarus52, 166–170, 1982) for the light transmitted to space by a Venus lightning flash by dropping the use of similarity relations have been improved. This revised model increases their escape fractions and image sizes by about a factor of 2; however, their conclusions remain valid.     

An upper limit to the abundance of lightning-produced amino acids in the Jovian water clouds

The effect of excess hydrogen on the synthesis of amino acids, by high-temperature shock waves in a hydrogen/methane/ammonia/water vapor mixture, was studied experimentally. The energy efficiency results, together with the best estimate of the lightning energy dissipation rate on Jupiter, from the Voyager data, were used to calculate an upper limit to the rate of amino acid production by lightning in the Jovian water clouds. Using reasonable values for the eddy diffusion coefficients within and below the water clouds, the column abundance of lightning-produced amino acids in the clouds was estimated to be 6.2 × 10^?6 cm-am. Hence, concentration of amino acids in water droplets would be 8 × 10^?8 mole liter^?1.     

On the possibility of microbiota transfer from Venus to Earth

The possibility of the clouds of Venus providing habitats for extremophilic microorganisms has been discussed for several decades. We show here that the action of the solar wind leads to erosion of parts of the atmosphere laden with aerosols and putative microorganisms, forming a comet-like tail in the antisolar direction. During inferior conjunctions that coincide with transits of the planet Venus this comet-like tail intersects the Earth’s magnetopause and injects aerosol particles. Data from ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft and from SOHO are used to discuss the ingress of bacteria from Venus into the Earth’s atmosphere, which we estimate as ～10¹¹–10¹³ cells for each transit event.     

Observable effects of convection and gravity waves on the Venus condensational cloud

We present results of a simple two-dimensional model investigating the observable effects that convective motions and gravity waves can have on the condensational Venus cloud. Gravity waves have been observed in the Venus atmosphere in the form of temperature scintillations in the Magellan and Pioneer Venus occultation data. Multiple in situ probes and long-duration remote observations indicate the presence of convective motions in the Venus clouds. Dynamical studies by others have suggested that gravity waves can exist in the stable regions of the Venus atmosphere above the middle clouds and beneath the middle clouds, and likely are triggered by flow past sub-cloud plumes caused by convective overshooting. We find that a simplified treatment of convective kinematics generates variation in the Venus condensational cloud consistent with the observed variability of optical depth and brightness temperature. Specifically, we find that the downdraft regions in our simulated convective cell exhibit a decrease in cloud optical depth of around Δτ∼10. The brightness temperature ranges from about 460 K in the downdraft regions of the simulated convective cells, to about 400 K in the simulated updrafts. We also find that gravity waves launched by obstacles (such as overshooting convective plumes) near the cloud base exhibit horizontal wavelengths comparable to the separation between convective cells, and generate variations in brightness temperature that should be observable by instruments such as VIRTIS on Venus Express. However, a more robust treatment of the atmospheric dynamics is needed to address adequately these interactions between the clouds and the mesoscale dynamics.     

An investigation of possible causes of the holes in the condensational Venus cloud using a microphysical cloud model with a radiative-dynamical feedback

Near-infrared observations of the nightside of Venus reveal regions of high brightness temperatures. These regions of high brightness temperatures are caused by the localized evaporation of the middle and lower cloud decks, which are about 50 to 60 km above the surface of the planet. We simulate the Venus condensational middle and lower cloud deck with the University of Colorado/NASA Ames Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA). Our simulated clouds have similar characteristics to the observed Venus clouds. Our radiative transfer model reproduces the observed temperature structure and atmospheric stability structure within the middle cloud region. A radiative-dynamical feedback occurs which generates mixing due to increased absorption of upwelling infrared radiation within the lower cloud region, as previously suggested by others. We find that localized variations in temperature structure or in sub-grid scale mixing cannot directly explain the longevity and optical depth of the clouds. However, vertical motions are capable of altering the cloud optical depth by a sufficient magnitude in a short enough timescale to be responsible for the observed clearings.