Venus's southern polar vortex reveals precessing circulation |
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Authors: | Luz D Berry D L Piccioni G Drossart P Politi R Wilson C F Erard S Nuccilli F |
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Affiliation: | Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, 1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal. dluz@oal.ul.pt |
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Abstract: | Initial images of Venus's south pole by the Venus Express mission have shown the presence of a bright, highly variable vortex, similar to that at the planet's north pole. Using high-resolution infrared measurements of polar winds from the Venus Express Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument, we show the vortex to have a constantly varying internal structure, with a center of rotation displaced from the geographic south pole by ~3 degrees of latitude and that drifts around the pole with a period of 5 to 10 Earth days. This is indicative of a nonsymmetric and varying precession of the polar atmospheric circulation with respect to the planetary axis. |
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