Researchers explain mysterious cause of 6,000-kilometer cloud wall on Venus

Venus “cloud disruption is caused by the largest known hydraulic jump in the solar system.”

The origin of an impressive cloud disturbance on Venus has now been revealed by a team including the University of Tokyo. Researchers used numerical models to show that an enormous 6,000-kilometer-wide atmospheric wave front, which circumnavigates the planet for days at a time, is caused by a large “hydraulic jump.” This is when a fluid […]

Researchers explain mysterious cause of 6,000-kilometer cloud wall on Venus

A sharply defined cloud front on Venus, stretching about 6,000 kilometers across, has puzzled planetary scientists since Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft spotted it sweeping around the planet’s equator. The feature looked too large, too persistent, and too strange to fit neatly into existing models of Venusian weather. Now a team that included the University of Tokyo says it has pinned down the cause: the largest known hydraulic jump in the solar sys…