The Effect of Near-Surface Winds on Surface Temperature and Dust Transport on Venus

Abstract

The knowledge of the Venus near-surface atmosphere is sparse. Few spacecrafts landed on the surface and measured winds with amplitudes below 1 m/s. The diurnal cycle of the wind amplitude and orientation is not known. Recent numerical simulations showed that slope winds along topographic structures could strongly impact the direction of winds. This study presents the first mesoscale modeling of such winds on Venus. A change of direction is occurring during the day in the main slopes, with upslope winds at noon due to solar heating and downslope winds at night. This is due to efficient IR cooling of the surface during the night, being colder than its surroundings slope atmospheric environment and leading to displacement of air. The temperature is impacted by the adiabatic cooling/warming induced by those winds. A strong heating effect is occurring for the downslope winds, leading to an anti-correlation between the surface temperature diurnal amplitude and the topography. This diurnal amplitude reaches 4 K in the plains and below 1 K in the mountains. The saltation of sediment by those winds was also quantified, with a higher probability at night along the slopes on the western flanks.