Influence of Venus topography on the zonal wind and UV albedo at cloud top level: The role of stationary gravity waves
Based on the analysis of UV images (at 365 nm) of Venus cloud top (altitude 67 ± 2 km) collected with Venus Monitoring Camera on board Venus Express (VEX), it is found that the zonal wind speed south of the equator (from 5°S to 15°S) shows a conspicuous variation (from −101 to −83 m/s) with geographic longitude of Venus, correlated with the underlying relief of Aphrodite Terra. We interpret this pattern as the result of stationary gravity waves produced at ground level by the uplift of air when the horizontal wind encounters a mountain slope. These waves can propagate up to the cloud top level, break there, and transfer their momentum to the zonal flow. Such upward propagation of gravity waves and influence on the wind speed vertical profile was shown to play an important role in the middle atmosphere of the Earth by Lindzen (1981) but is not reproduced in the current GCM of Venus atmosphere from LMD. (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique)
Scattered UV solar radiation within the clouds of Venus
The spectral albedo curve of Venus shows a steep decline at wavelengths between 0.5 and 0.3 µm (refs 1–3). This is of interest since absorption of solar energy in this spectral region has a strong influence on the thermal balance of the venusian atmosphere. The nature and altitude distribution of the UV absorber have not been determined, although some candidate gases have been proposed. We report here the results of measurements carried out on the last Soviet venusian descent probe Venera-14 which suggest that the UV absorption is by aerosols above an altitude of 57 km and by gases below this level.
Evidence of spurious results along with spatially autocorrelated errors in the context of geographically weighted regression for two independent SAR(1) processes
AbstractThe aim of this paper is to examine the performance of the geographically weighted regression (GWR) technique in terms of recognizing linear relationships at the local level. Using a Monte Carlo analysis with two independent spatially autocorrelated SAR(1) processes, this study finds that spurious behavior exists at the local level along with spatially autocorrelated errors. Therefore, GWR estimation results must be interpreted with caution.
