IAA authors:
Peralta J.;Lõpez-Valverde M.A.
Authors:
Peralta J., Sánchez-Lavega A., Lõpez-Valverde M.A., Luz D., MacHado P.
Journal:
Geophysical Research Letters
Abstract:
The superrotation of the atmospheres of slowly rotating bodies is a long-standing problem yet unsolved in atmospheric dynamics. On Venus, the most extreme case known of superrotation, this is accompanied and influenced by a recurrent planetary-scale cloud structure, known as the Y feature. So far, no model has simultaneously reproduced its shape, temporal evolution, related wind field, nor the relation between its dynamics and the unknown UV-absorbing aerosol that produces its dark morphology. In this paper we present an analytical model for a Kelvin-like wave that offers an explanation of these peculiarities. Under Venus cyclostrophic conditions, this wave is equatorially and vertically trapped where zonal winds peak and extends 7 km in altitude, and its vertical wind perturbations are shown to produce upwelling of the UV absorber. The Y-feature morphology and its 30 day evolution are reproduced as distortions of the wave structure by the Venus winds. © 2015 The Authors.
URL:
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2015GeoRL..42..705P/abstract