Site Map
Contacts
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter YouTube channel
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto
An overview of Venus studies at CAAUL

David Luz
Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract
Since its arrival to Venus in 2006, ESA's Venus Express mission sparked a renewed interest in our twin planet.
Atmospheric dynamics, together with chemical cycles and radiative processes are the crucial mechanisms which determine the behavior of planetary atmospheres. In particular, characterizing the Venusian atmospheric circulation at various levels of the atmosphere, from the ground to cloud top level, is a key science topic that will help understanding what maintains the atmospheric superrotation and whether such mechanisms are possible in other planetary atmospheres.
Venus Express characterizes the atmospheric circulation through cloud tracking with combined multi-instrument observations. In addition, state of the art ground-based instruments allow coordinated wind measurements which complement those made by spacecraft. Finally, advanced general circulation models have now developed to a stage that allows diagnosing the atmospheric dynamics provided sufficient data are available to optimize model performance.
In this seminar I will discuss how the different approaches of spacecraft, ground-based observations and modelling are providing new insight into Venus' atmospheric dynamics. I will also present some more recent observations made during this year's Venus transit

17 October 2012, 13:30

Centro de Astrofísica
Rua das Estrelas
4150-762 Porto

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences

Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) is a new but long anticipated research infrastructure with a national dimension. It embodies a bold but feasible vision for the development of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, taking full advantage and fully realizing the potential created by the national membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). IA resulted from the merging the two most prominent research units in the field in Portugal: the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP) and the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL). It currently hosts more than two-thirds of all active researchers working in Space Sciences in Portugal, and is responsible for an even greater fraction of the national productivity in international ISI journals in the area of Space Sciences. This is the scientific area with the highest relative impact factor (1.65 times above the international average) and the field with the highest average number of citations per article for Portugal.

Proceed on CAUP's website|Go to IA website