The winds at the surface blow in one direction. With the atmo all going in one direction, there is a net force on the planet.Originally Posted by JonClarke
Dont remember why the winds all blow in ine direction tho.
Order of Kilopi
The winds at the surface blow in one direction. With the atmo all going in one direction, there is a net force on the planet.
Dont remember why the winds all blow in ine direction tho.
Order of Kilopi
Venus probably initially had a regular, prograde rotation rather like Earth's. Thus, like on Earth, the Coriollis effect would have set up a retrograde, equatorial trade wind. (Heat at the equator causes air to rise; so, low altitude air from higher latitudes has to rush in to fill the void; however, because of the Coriollis effect, air from the northern hemisphere moves to the right, while air rushing in from the southern hemisphere moves to the left; thus the net effect is the east to west trade winds.)
Because the atmosphere is so thick on Venus, however, it's like as if Earth had no continents with a swift equatorial ocean current. So, I can see how the effect on Venus' rotation would be significant. Once the air currents got rolling, they would take on a life of their own (just like bathtubs that drain in a clockwise direction in the north.) So, the current winds on Venus are essentially a living fossil--evidence of a more primitive, prograde existence. (Check out papers written by Cheng Zhi Zhang in the Harvard database.) Zhang argues that the atmospheric tides are strong enough to counterbalance the tidal torque exerted by the Sun, and thus make possible the tidal Earth/Venus resonance that makes Venus always present the same side to Earth during Earth/Venus/Sun conjunctions.
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