beneath venus’ surface tagged posts

Gravity waves on Venus. Credit: ESA

Using ESA’s Venus Express satellite, scientists have shown for the first time how weather patterns seen in Venus’ thick cloud layers are directly linked to the topography of the surface below. Rather than acting as a barrier to our observations, Venus’ clouds may offer insight into what lies beneath. Venus is famously hot, due to an extreme greenhouse effect which heats its surface to temps as high as 450C. The climate at the surface is oppressive; as well as being hot, the surface environment is dimly lit, due to a thick blanket of cloud which completely envelopes the planet. Ground-level winds are slow, pushing their way across the planet at painstaking speeds of ~1m/sec – no faster than a gentle stroll.

However, that is not what we see when we obser...