Weather for Venus - Hot, boring... but maybe not completely boring

[Swift]

R&D Magazine on-line

At first glance, a weather forecaster for Venus would have either a really easy or a really boring job, depending on your point of view. The climate on Venus is widely known to be unpleasant—at the surface, the planet roasts at more than 800 F under a suffocating blanket of sulfuric acid clouds and a crushing atmosphere more than 90 times the pressure of Earth's. Intrepid future explorers should abandon any hope for better days, however, because it won't change much.

"Any variability in the weather on Venus is noteworthy, because the planet has so many features to keep atmospheric conditions the same," says Dr. Tim Livengood, a researcher with the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, Capitol Heights, Md., and now with the University of Maryland, College Park, Md.

...

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 110 km above the planet's surface, in cold, clear air above the acid clouds, in two layers called the mesosphere and the thermosphere.

"Although the air over the polar regions in these upper atmospheric layers on Venus was colder than the air over the equator in most measurements, occasionally it appeared to be warmer," 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)."

[neilzero]

However, higher up, the weather gets more interesting, according to a new study of old data by NASA and international scientists. ~Above the sulphuric acid clouds, the temperature is about 55 degrees f and the pressure about 4 psi, with wind speeds of above 200 kilometers per hour, which circle Venus in 4 days, making near ideal conditions for a manned balloon colony~ The team detected strange things going on in data from telescopic observations of Venus in infrared light at about 110 km ~lower air pressure at this altitude~ above the planet's surface, in cold, clear air above the acid clouds, in two layers called the mesosphere and the thermosphere.

"Although the air over the polar regions in these upper atmospheric layers on Venus was colder than the air over the equator in most measurements, occasionally it appeared to be warmer," 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)."
~ The large temperature difference, likely means rough weather for the balloon colony, with possible destruction if the colony get sucked into the polar downdraft. Conditions may be similar at the 55 degree f altitude. What do you think? Neil~

[Ara Pacis]

I think it's tough to read when you don't use normal quoting conventions for the forum, neilzero.

[eburacum45]

I must admit to being confused by Dr. Kostiuk's remarks.

Although the air over the polar regions in these upper atmospheric layers on Venus was colder than the air over the equator in most measurements, occasionally it appeared to be warmer. 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.

Does he mean we sometimes saw the opposite on Venus, or that we always saw the opposite on Venus? Does the Hadley cell reverse direction sometimes, or is it consistently backwards?