Overview of VEGA Venus Balloon in Situ Meteorological Measurements
Abstract
The VEGA balloons made in situ measurements of pressure, temperature, vertical wind velocity, ambient light, frequency of lightning, and cloud particle backscatter. Both balloons encountered highly variable atmospheric conditions, with periods of intense vertical winds occurring sporadically throughout their flights. Downward winds as large as 3.5 meters per second occasionally forced the balloons to descend as much as 2.5 kilometers below their equilibrium float altitudes. Large variations, in pressure, temperature, ambient light level, and cloud particle backscatter (VEGA-1 only) correlated well during these excursions, indicating that these properties were strong functions of altitude in those parts of the middle cloud layer sampled by the balloons.
Additional Information
© 1986 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received for publication 23 October 1985. Accepted for publication 24 January 1986. Supported in part by NASA at the Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 38066
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.231.4744.1411
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130422-112902606
- NASA Ames Research Center
- JPL/Caltech
- Created
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2013-04-22Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-09-26Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences