Article (Scientific journals)
Two-dimensional time-dependent model of the transport of minor species in the Venus night side upper atmosphere
Collet, Arnaud; Cox, Cédric; Gérard, Jean-Claude
2010In Planetary and Space Science, 58
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Keywords :
Venus atmosphere; Transport; Nightglow; Numerical modelling
Abstract :
[en] We present a numerical tool developed to quantify the role of processes controlling the spatio-temporal distribution of the NO ultraviolet and O2 infrared nightglows in the Venus night side upper atmosphere, observed with the VIRTIS and SPICAV instruments on board Venus Express. This numerical tool consists in a two-dimensional chemical-transport time-dependent model which computes in a hypothetical rectangular solving domain the spatio-temporal distributions of the number densities of the four minor species at play in these two nightglow emissions. The coupled nonlinear system of the four partial differential equations, describing the spatio-temporal variations of the minorspecies, has been solved using a finite volume method with a forward Euler method for the time integration scheme. As an application, we have first simulated a time-constant supply of atoms through the upper boundary of the solving domain. The fluxes are inhomogeneous relative to its horizontal direction, in order to simulate regions of enhanced downward flow of oxygen and nitrogen giving rise to NO and O2 brightening. Given that these two emissions show large time variations, we have also simulated a time-dependent downward flux of O and N atoms. It results from these simulations that the lack of correlation between the NO and O2 nightglows largely result from to the coupling between horizontal and vertical transport processes and the very different chemical lifetimes of the two species. In particular,we have quantified the role of each process generating spatio-temporal de-correlations between the NO and O2 nightglows.
Research center :
Laboratoire de Physique Atmosphérique et Planétaire
Disciplines :
Physics
Computer science
Author, co-author :
Collet, Arnaud ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Form. doct. sc. ingé. (aérosp. & méca - Bologne)
Cox, Cédric ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > SEGI : Etudes et intégr. de systèmes : Antenne administr.
Gérard, Jean-Claude  ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Language :
English
Title :
Two-dimensional time-dependent model of the transport of minor species in the Venus night side upper atmosphere
Publication date :
December 2010
Journal title :
Planetary and Space Science
ISSN :
0032-0633
Publisher :
Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science, Oxford, United Kingdom
Volume :
58
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]
Available on ORBi :
since 08 November 2010

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