Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus

Until recently, the lower to middle cloud region of Venus had been supposed to be dynamically quiet, accommodating nearly steady superrotating westward flow. However, observations of the regions by Akatsuki, the latest Venus orbiter operating since 2015, have revealed a variety of cloud features ind...

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Authors: Horinouchi, Takeshi, Satoh, Takehiko, Peralta Calvillo, Javier
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repository:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/158466
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/158466
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Barotropic instability
Cloud
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Planetary atmospheres
Venus
Vortex street
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spelling Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of VenusHorinouchi, TakeshiSatoh, TakehikoPeralta Calvillo, JavierBarotropic instabilityCloudGeophysical fluid dynamicsPlanetary atmospheresVenusVortex streetUntil recently, the lower to middle cloud region of Venus had been supposed to be dynamically quiet, accommodating nearly steady superrotating westward flow. However, observations of the regions by Akatsuki, the latest Venus orbiter operating since 2015, have revealed a variety of cloud features indicative of vortices and waves. Here we report another, and arguably the most conspicuous, example. Akatsuki's near-infrared imager IR2 captured gigantic vortices rotating cyclonically on 25 August 2016. By using winds estimated by cloud tracking, the feature is shown to be quantitatively consistent with barotropic instability. The size of the vortices (∼1,000 km) and their spacing (∼2,500 km) are more than several times greater than the vortex-like features reported previously from the observations of Venus, and they are also greater than the largest barotropic instability observed in the Earth's troposphere.Wiley-BlackwellFísica Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear2023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/11441/158466https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevillainstname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)InglésGeophysical Research Letters, 50 (2), e2022GL101633.https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:idus.us.es:11441/1584662026-06-17T12:51:07Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
title Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
spellingShingle Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
Horinouchi, Takeshi
Barotropic instability
Cloud
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Planetary atmospheres
Venus
Vortex street
title_short Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
title_full Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
title_fullStr Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
title_full_unstemmed Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
title_sort Gigantic Vortices From Barotropic Instability Observed in the Atmosphere of Venus
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Horinouchi, Takeshi
Satoh, Takehiko
Peralta Calvillo, Javier
author Horinouchi, Takeshi
author_facet Horinouchi, Takeshi
Satoh, Takehiko
Peralta Calvillo, Javier
author_role author
author2 Satoh, Takehiko
Peralta Calvillo, Javier
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Barotropic instability
Cloud
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Planetary atmospheres
Venus
Vortex street
topic Barotropic instability
Cloud
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Planetary atmospheres
Venus
Vortex street
description Until recently, the lower to middle cloud region of Venus had been supposed to be dynamically quiet, accommodating nearly steady superrotating westward flow. However, observations of the regions by Akatsuki, the latest Venus orbiter operating since 2015, have revealed a variety of cloud features indicative of vortices and waves. Here we report another, and arguably the most conspicuous, example. Akatsuki's near-infrared imager IR2 captured gigantic vortices rotating cyclonically on 25 August 2016. By using winds estimated by cloud tracking, the feature is shown to be quantitatively consistent with barotropic instability. The size of the vortices (∼1,000 km) and their spacing (∼2,500 km) are more than several times greater than the vortex-like features reported previously from the observations of Venus, and they are also greater than the largest barotropic instability observed in the Earth's troposphere.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/11441/158466
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633
url https://hdl.handle.net/11441/158466
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Geophysical Research Letters, 50 (2), e2022GL101633.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101633
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley-Blackwell
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley-Blackwell
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
instname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
instname_str Universidad de Sevilla (US)
reponame_str idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
collection idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869419061096480768
score 15.300724

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