Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T10:30:31.425Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water on Venus?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

W. F. Libby  and
P. Corneil
W. F. Libby
Affiliation:
Dept. of Chemistry and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif U.S.A.
P. Corneil
Affiliation:
Dept. of Chemistry and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Calif U.S.A.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

It is proposed that Venus may have polar seas which are acidic and thus cannot precipitate calcium carbonate. This leaves the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The argument is that the great equatorial land masses always have been too hot for liquid water and thus could not be weathered to give the sea salts necessary to form the precipitate. The action of steam on rocks is to liberate acids which are volatile and would dissolve in the polar seas. The volcanic vapors issuing in the early times consisting mainly of water and carbon dioxide would have begun polar seas at once since the expected equatorial (black body) surface temperature of the bare planet is too high (464 K) due to proximity of the sun. The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would have ensured the continued increase of the temperature due to the greenhouse effect. On earth, on the contrary, condensation over most of the planetary surface probably was possible from the beginning. Liquid water, ice-weathering, and river transport of salts to the seas all probably occurred from the beginning.

As the pressure at the surface probably approximates 100 atm (Venera 5 and 6) we can expect the polar seas to be below the boiling point although possibly hot. An isothermal layer of some thickness is naturally established over liquid water heated by infrared from above. Evaporation and condensation to form rain constitutes an efficient heat transport mechanism. Such a layer naturally would move toward lower latitude carrying moisture which then will rise and eventually move poleward in the high atmosphere causing rain and possibly the planet wide cloud cover. The atmosphere containing volatiles such as hydrochloric and hydrofluoric and sulfurous and sulfuric acids as well as carbon dioxide will form clouds which might be expected to consist of concentrated acid solutions. The main rain over the poles probably falls from altitudes well below the cloud top seen from earth. It is possible that the Venus clouds seen from earth are non aqueous just as our stratosphere carries dust clouds apparently of ammonium sulfate. At the moment it is very difficult to decide between these alternatives.

In the more polar regions the seas might conceivably be as cool as 50 °C.

Type
Part I: Venus
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 40: Planetary Atmospheres , 1971 , pp. 55 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1971 

References

Avduevsky, V. S., Marov, M. Ya., and Rozhdestvensky, M. K.: 1968, ‘Model of the Atmosphere of the Planet Venus’, J. Atmospheric Sci. 25, 537–545.Google Scholar
Belton, M. J. and Hunten, D. M.: 1966, ‘Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of Venus’, Astrophys. J. 146, 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkner, L. V. and Marshall, L. C.: 1964, ‘The History and Growth of Oxygen in the Earth's Atmosphere’, in The Origin and Evolution of Atmospheres and Oceans (ed. by Bracazio, P. J. and Cameron, A. G. W.), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Bottema, M., Plummer, W., Strong, J., and Zander, R.: 1964, ‘Composition of the Clouds of Venus’, Astrophys. J. 140, 1640–1641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bottema, M., Plummer, W., and Strong, J.: 1965, ‘A Quantitative Measurement of Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of Venus’, Ann. Astrophys. 28, 225–228.Google Scholar
Clark, B. G. and Kuzmin, A. D.: 1965, ‘The Measurement of the Polarization and Brightness Distribution of Venus at 10.6 cm Wave Length’, Astrophys. J. 142, 23.Google Scholar
Connes, P., Connes, J., Benedict, W. S., and Kaplan, L. D.: 1967, ‘Traces of HCl and HF in the Atmosphere of Venus’, Astrophys. J. 147, 1230–1237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corneil, P. and Heber, D.: 1968, ‘Sulphuric Acid and the Nature of the Lower Atmosphere of Venus’, unpublished report, Chemistry Department, UCLA.Google Scholar
Corneil, P. and Budgor, A.: 1969, This report calculates that sulfur in a CO2 atmosphere is found as H2SO4 + SO3 at 590 K.Google Scholar
Dollfus, A.: 1955, ‘Etude visuelle et photographique de l'atmosphere de Venus’, L'Astronomie 69, 413–425.Google Scholar
Dollfus, A.: 1964, ‘Mesure de la vapeur d'eau dans les atmospheres de Mars et de Venus’, Mem. Soc. Roy. Sci., Liege, Serie 5, 9, 392–395.Google Scholar
Fabian, P. and Libby, W. F.: 1969, ‘Ozone in the Atmosphere of Venus and Its Contribution to the Heat Budget’, Z. Geophys. 35, 1.Google Scholar
Fabian, P., Sasamori, T., and Kasahara, A.: 1958, ‘Radiative-Convective Equilibrium Temperature Calculation of the Venus Atmosphere’, unpublished report, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.Google Scholar
Fricker, P. E. and Reynolds, R. I.: 1968, Icarus 9, 221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goody, R. M. and Robinson, A. R.: 1966, ‘A Discussion of the Deep Circulation of the Atmosphere of Venus’, Astrophys. J. 146, 339–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, H. W.: 1945, Recent Advances in the Chemistry and Biology of Sea Water, Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 61–68.Google Scholar
Jastrow, R.: 1968, ‘The Planet Venus’, Science 160, 1403–1410.Google Scholar
Junge, C. E.: 1963, Air Chemistry and Radioactivity, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kliore, A. and Cain, D. L.: 1968, ‘Mariner 5 and the Radius of Venus’, J. Atmospheric Sci. 25, 549–554.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuiper, G.: 1969, private communication.Google Scholar
Libby, W. F.: 1968, ‘Ice Caps on Venus’, Science 159, 1097; 160, 1474; 161, 916.Google Scholar
Mintz, Y.: 1961, ‘Temperature and Calculation of the Venus Atmosphere’, Planetary Space Sci. 5, 141–152.Google Scholar
Mueller, R. F.: 1968, ‘Sources of HCl and HF in the Atmosphere of Venus’, Nature 220, 55.Google Scholar
Ohring, G. and Mariano, J.: 1964, ‘The Effect of Cloudiness on the Greenhouse Model of the Venus Atmosphere’, J. Geophys. Res. 69, 165–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, T.: 1967, ‘Water Vapor on Venus – A Dissent and a Clarification’, Astrophys. J. Letters 150, L121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, T., Bussinger, J. A. and Holton, J. R.: 1968, ‘Ice on Venus: Can It Exist?’ Science 161, 916.Google Scholar
Pollack, J. B. and Sagan, C.: 1965, ‘The Microwave Phase Effect of Venus’, Icarus 4, 62–103.Google Scholar
Pollack, J. B.: 1969, ‘A Non-Gray CO2-H2O Greenhouse Model of Venus, Icarus 10, 314.Google Scholar
Raman, A. and Johnson, R. G.: 1969, ‘Corrosion of Igneous Rocks and Minerals by Aqueous Acidic Solutions in the Presence of CO2‘, unpublished report, Department of Chemistry, UCLA.Google Scholar
Raman, A. and Nemes, P.: 1969, ‘Evaporation of Water and Aqueous, Acidic Solutions in the Presence of CO2 at High Pressures’, unpublished report, Department of Chemistry, UCLA.Google Scholar
Raman, R.: 1969, ‘pH Variations in Carbonate-Acid Reactions in the Presence of CO2 at High Pressures’, unpublished report, Department of Chemistry, UCLA.Google Scholar
Rasool, S. I.: 1968, ‘Loss of Water from Venus’, J. Atmospheric Sci. 25, 663.Google Scholar
Rubey, W. W.: 1964, ‘Geologic History of Sea Water’, in The Origin and Evolution of Atmospheres and Oceans (ed. by Bracazio, P. J. and Cameron, A. G. W.), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, pp. 1–63.Google Scholar
Sagan, C.: 1967, ‘Origins of Atmospheres, of Earth and Planets’, International Dictionary of Geophysics, Oxford, Pergamon Press, pp. 97–106.Google Scholar
Spinrad, H. and Shawl, S. J.: 1966, ‘Water Vapor on Venus – A Confirmation’, Astrophys. J. 146, 328.Google Scholar
‘Venera 5 and 6′ Pravda No. 155 (18568) of 4 June 1969, Moscow.Google Scholar
Vinogradov, A. P., Surkov, U. A., and Florensky, C. P.: 1968, ‘The Chemical Composition of the Venus Atmosphere Based on the Data of the Interplanetary Station, Venera 4’, J. Atmospheric Sci. 25, 535–536.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wertman, J. W.: 1968, ‘Venus: Ice Sheets’, Science 160, 1673.Google Scholar