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Published January 1980 | public
Journal Article

Atmospheric Tides and the Rotation of Venus

Abstract

Insolation absorbed by the surface of Venus is quickly redeposited at the bottom of the atmosphere. This periodic heating causes mass to flow away from the warm afternoon side of the planet and into the cooler morning region. The Sun's gravitational field exerts a torque on this atmospheric tide tending to accelerate the retrograde zonal circulation. When this torque is transmitted to the crust, it can balance the despinning effect of tides in the body of Venus. The slow retrograde rotation of Venus may be a steady state among tides in the atmosphere, tides in the solid body, and possibly the influence of the Earth.

Additional Information

© 1980 by Academic Press, Inc. Received January 18, 1979; revised July 12, 1979. This research was supported by NASA Grant NGL 05-002-003.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023