Limits on Venus' SO2 abundance profile from interferometric observations at 3.4 mm wavelength |
| |
| Authors: | John C Good FPeter Schloerb |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | The role of SO2 in the chemistry of the clouds of Venus has been investigated by deducing its mixing ratio profile in the atmosphere through millimeter wavelength interferometric measurements of the planet's limb darkening. The first zero crossing of the Venus visibility function was measured to be β0 = 0.6221 ± 0.0007 at a wavelength of 3.4 mm using a reference radius for Venus of 6100 km. This measurement constrains the amount of limb darkening and shows that the high concentrations of SO2 found in the lower atmosphere do not persist above an altitude of 42 km. Thus, a sink for SO2 exists below the level of the lowest cloud deck. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
