Radiative fluxes in the atmosphere of Venus

The main cloud deck of Venus extends from about 50 - 70 km altitude and is composed primarily of sulphuric acid mixed with water.

These clouds have a huge effect on both solar and thermal radiative fluxes in the atmosphere, playing a major part in greenhouse warming and in forcing the atmospheric circulation; hence, measuring and understanding these fluxes is critical for understanding the dynamics of the atmosphere.

Radiative fluxes within the atmosphere have been measured by the Pioneer Venus, Venera, and VeGa descent probes, and will be measured from future descent probes and balloons in the atmosphere of Venus, such as the ones proposed in the NASA Venus Flagship Mission Study.

The theme of this work will be to use Oxford's modern radiative transfer code, NEMESIS, combined with cloud constraints from missions such as Venus Express, to reanalyse Pioneer Venus and Venera/VeGa descent profiles to retrieve cloud abundances and water vapour profiles as a function of altitude.

This will improve our understanding of Venus' atmosphere and also provide important new constraints and context for future missions.

In particular, calculations will be made to optimise the position and widths of potential visible/infrared spectral channels for future probe- or balloon-borne radiometers and also simulations made of the near-surface radiative fluxes, relevant to surface imaging and/or solar power generation depending on research priorities and mission opportunities as the project progresses.