Potential vorticity of the south polar vortex of Venus

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorGarate‐Lopez, Itziar
dc.contributor.authorHueso, R.
dc.contributor.authorSánchez‐Lavega, Agustin
dc.contributor.authorGarcía Muñoz, Antonio
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-09T16:09:22Z
dc.date.available2019-12-09T16:09:22Z
dc.date.issued2016-03-14
dc.description©2016. American Geophysical Unionen
dc.description.abstractVenus' atmosphere shows highly variable warm vortices over both of the planet's poles. The nature of the mechanism behind their formation and properties is still unknown. Potential vorticity is a conserved quantity when advective processes dominate over friction and diabatic heating and is a quantity frequently used to model balanced flows. As a step toward understanding the vortices' dynamics, we present maps of Ertel's potential vorticity (EPV) at Venus' south polar region. We analyze three configurations of the south polar vortex at the upper cloud level (P ~ 240 mbar; z ~ 58 km), based on our previous analyses of cloud motions and thermal structure from data acquired by the Visual and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument on board Venus Express. Additionally, we tentatively estimate EPV at the lower cloud level (P ~ 2200 mbar; z ~ 43 km), based on our previous wind measurements and on static stability data from Pioneer Venus and the Venus International Reference Atmosphere (VIRA) model. Values of EPV are on the order of 10−6 and 10−8 K m2 kg−1 s−1 at the upper and lower cloud levels, respectively, being 3 times larger than the estimated errors. The morphology observed in EPV maps is mainly determined by the structures of the vertical component of the relative vorticity. This is in contrast to the vortex's morphology observed in 3.8 or 5 µm images which are related to the thermal structure of the atmosphere at the cloud top. Some of the EPV maps point to a weak ringed structure in the upper cloud, while a more homogenous EPV field is found in the lower cloud.en
dc.identifier.eissn2169-9100
dc.identifier.issn2169-9097
dc.identifier.urihttps://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/10459
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-9411
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subject.ddc550 Geowissenschaftende
dc.subject.othervenus atmosphereen
dc.subject.othersouth polar vortexen
dc.subject.otherdynamicsen
dc.subject.otherErtel's potential vorticityen
dc.titlePotential vorticity of the south polar vortex of Venusen
dc.typeArticleen
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.doi10.1002/2015JE004885en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.issue4en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.journaltitleJournal of Geophysical Research: Planetsen
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublishernameAmerican Geophysical Unionen
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublisherplaceHoboken, NJen
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.pageend593en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.pagestart574en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.volume121en
tub.accessrights.dnbdomainen
tub.affiliationFak. 2 Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften::Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysikde
tub.affiliation.facultyFak. 2 Mathematik und Naturwissenschaftende
tub.affiliation.instituteZentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysikde
tub.publisher.universityorinstitutionTechnische Universität Berlinen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Garate-Lopez_et_al-2016.pdf
Size:
2.1 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published article
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
4.9 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Publications