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    Wind speeds in Venus's cloud layers

    Date: 18 Sep 2008
    Satellite: Venus Express
    Depicts: Wind speeds at three altitudes based on VIRTIS data
    Copyright: A. Sánchez-Lavega et al. 2008

    These two graphs show the averaged wind speeds in the southern hemisphere of Venus as a function of latitude for both the zonal winds, U (A, left) and meridional winds, V (B, right). The spatial and temporal averages of the wind speeds are derived from VIRTIS data recorded between April 2006 (arrival of Venus Express at Venus) and July 2007.

    The three curves in each graph show the wind speed in three different altitude ranges in the cloud layers. These were derived by tracking the movement of cloud features at three different wavelengths:

    Colour Lambda
    (μm)
    Altitudes
    (km)
    Atmospheric Region

    Blue

    0.38 62-70

    Top of upper cloud layer

    Purple

    0.98 58-64

    Base of upper cloud layer

    Red

    1.74 44-48

    Lower cloud layer

    Error bars for the 0.98 μm profile are not drawn for clarity but are similar to the other profiles.


    Last Update: 18 Sep 2008

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    • See also
    • A 3D view of variable winds in Venus's cloud layers
    • Related Publications
    • Sánchez-Lavega, A. et al. [2008]

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