Planetary- Scale Wave Impacts on the Venusian Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere
Brecht, A. S.; Bougher, S. W.; Shields, D.; Liu, H.‐l.
2021-01
Citation
Brecht, A. S.; Bougher, S. W.; Shields, D.; Liu, H.‐l. (2021). "Planetary- Scale Wave Impacts on the Venusian Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere." Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 126(1): n/a-n/a.
Abstract
This work examines the planetary wave- induced variability within the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere of Venus by utilizing the Venus Thermospheric General Circulation Model (VTGCM). Rossby and Kelvin wave perturbations are driven by variations in the geopotential height of the VTGCM lower boundary (- ¼70Â km). A suite of simulations was conducted to examine the impact of the individual and combined waves propagating from two different lower boundary conditions (uniform and varying). The Kelvin wave is the more dominant wave which produces the most variability. The combination of the Kelvin and Rossby waves provides a maximum temperature amplitude of 13Â K at 92Â km and maximum zonal wind amplitude of 23Â m/s at 102Â km. The combined waves overall are able to propagate up to 125Â km. Most of the variation within the temperature, winds, and composition occurs between 70 and 110Â km. The varying lower boundary increases the magnitude of the wave deposition and atmospheric responses, but weakly changes the propagation altitude. The thermal variation due to the planetary waves does not reproduce most observed variations. The simulated O2 IR nightglow emission is sensitive to the waves with respect to intensity and local time, but lacks latitudinal variation. The integrated intensity ranges from 1.2Â MR to 1.65Â MR and the local time ranges from 0.33 local time to 23.6 local time. Overall, planetary waves do affect the atmospheric structure, but there are still large observed variations that planetary waves alone cannot explain (i.e., thermal structure).Plain Language SummaryVenus- atmosphere has a cloud layer (- ¼40- - ¼70Â km) that encompasses the whole planet that separates the lower atmosphere and upper atmosphere. Images of the clouds show planetary scale wave patterns that exist from the equator to mid- latitudes and are thought to be a combination of Kelvin and Rossby waves. This work examines how the Kelvin and Rossby waves change the upper atmosphere by using a general circulation model of the upper atmosphere (- ¼70 to - ¼300Â km altitude). More specifically, this project analyzes the wave induced variations in temperature, winds, and a few chemical species. This work also examines how a simplified connection to the lower atmosphere changes the behavior of the Kelvin and Rossby waves and thus variations in the upper atmosphere. The results of this work demonstrate that waves provide variations between - ¼70 and 110Â km altitude and are sensitive to the simplified lower atmosphere connection. The wave- induced variation does not reproduce observed thermal variations but it does reproduce observed O2 IR nightglow intensity variation. Overall, planetary waves do affect the upper atmosphere but do not propagate high enough in the atmosphere to provide all the observed variations.Key PointsSimulated planetary waves affect the atmospheric structure between 70 and 110Â km, with the Kelvin wave being dominant near the equatorThe addition of planetary waves and a varying lower boundary can reproduce observed O2 IR nightglow emission variability in local timeThe simulated thermal variation due to the planetary waves does not reproduce most observed variationsPublisher
University of Michigan - Deep Blue Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ISSN
2169-9097 2169-9100
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