The puzzling Venusian polar atmospheric structure reproduced by a general circulation model

Hiroki Ando (), Norihiko Sugimoto, Masahiro Takagi, Hiroki Kashimura, Takeshi Imamura and Yoshihisa Matsuda
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Hiroki Ando: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Norihiko Sugimoto: Research and Education Center for Natural Sciences, Keio University
Masahiro Takagi: Faculty of Science, Kyoto Sangyo University
Hiroki Kashimura: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Takeshi Imamura: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Yoshihisa Matsuda: Tokyo Gakugei University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Unlike the polar vortices observed in the Earth, Mars and Titan atmospheres, the observed Venus polar vortex is warmer than the midlatitudes at cloud-top levels (∼65 km). This warm polar vortex is zonally surrounded by a cold latitude band located at ∼60° latitude, which is a unique feature called ‘cold collar’ in the Venus atmosphere. Although these structures have been observed in numerous previous observations, the formation mechanism is still unknown. Here we perform numerical simulations of the Venus atmospheric circulation using a general circulation model, and succeed in reproducing these puzzling features in close agreement with the observations. The cold collar and warm polar region are attributed to the residual mean meridional circulation enhanced by the thermal tide. The present results strongly suggest that the thermal tide is crucial for the structure of the Venus upper polar atmosphere at and above cloud levels.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10398

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