<p>This is supplementary to <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/34590/7982">antispinward's excellent answer</a> and provides additional sources and a visualization from the JAXA spacecraft Atasuki. It has been shamelessly borrowed from <a href="https://space.stackexchange.com/q/19907/12102">Would it be possible to "ride the wave" on Venus?</a></p>

<hr>

<p>The recently published paper in Nature Geoscience <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0157-x" rel="noreferrer">Atmospheric mountain wave generation on Venus and its influence on the solid planet’s rotation rate</a> has open-access links in <s><a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/venus-thick-atmosphere-speeds-planets-spin" rel="noreferrer">Science News</a></s>, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xe7w3/venus-atmosphere-is-so-thick-it-moves-mountains" rel="noreferrer">Motherboard</a>, and <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/wind-hitting-venus-s-mountains-makes-planet-rotate-faster" rel="noreferrer">Science</a>.</p>

<p>I haven't found a preprint in arXiv yet.</p>

<hr>

<p>There is a stationary gravity wave in Venus's very dense atmosphere. It is intermittent, but has been detected several times. See the NYTimes article <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/science/venus-wave-akatsuki.html" rel="noreferrer">Venus Smiled, With a Mysterious Wave Across Its Atmosphere</a> for a discussion of recent observations by JAXA. See <a href="http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/akatsuki.html" rel="noreferrer">Akatsuki</a> and <a href="http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/" rel="noreferrer">Happy Birthday, Akatsuki!</a>, celebrating it's first Venusian year at Venus.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/mG2jA.gif" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/mG2jA.gif" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><strong>above:</strong> "A sequence of images showing the stationary nature of the bow-shape wave above Venus when it was observed in December 2015. Planet-C" from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/science/venus-wave-akatsuki.html" rel="noreferrer">NYTimes</a>. credit: Planet-C/JAXA</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RksBA.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RksBA.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><strong>above:</strong> "An illustration of how gravity waves travel up mountains and into Venus’s atmosphere. Credit ESA" From <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/science/venus-express-clouds-mountains.html" rel="noreferrer">How Mountains Obscured by Venus’s Clouds Reveal Themselves</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-04T03:13:05.277Z
2020-01-04T06:19:20.400Z
2020-01-04T06:19:20.400Z
uhoh
<p>IF I understand correctly, the atmosphere moves in the same direction as the rotational spin, but about 60 times faster. It is driven from the hot side of Venus to the cold side (the difference being great due to the planet's slow rotation allowing time for it to heat up and cool down). Is my understanding correct?</p>

<p>But why does the visible flow in the cloud tops describe a sideways V shape, with the flow appearing to move diagonally from the equator toward the poles? Is that also because the equator is hotter than the poles, driving the flow in that hotter-to-colder direction?</p>

<venus><planetary-atmosphere>
Why do the upper-atmosphere clouds of Venus appear to have that V shape?
Bruce
# Why do the upper-atmosphere clouds of Venus appear to have that V shape?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-03)

IF I understand correctly, the atmosphere moves in the same direction as the rotational spin, but about 60 times faster. It is driven from the hot side of Venus to the cold side (the difference being great due to the planet's slow rotation allowing time for it to heat up and cool down). Is my understanding correct?

But why does the visible flow in the cloud tops describe a sideways V shape, with the flow appearing to move diagonally from the equator toward the poles? Is that also because the equator is hotter than the poles, driving the flow in that hotter-to-colder direction?

**Tags:** venus, planetary-atmosphere


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-01-04. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

This is supplementary to [antispinward's excellent answer](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/a/34590/7982) and provides additional sources and a visualization from the JAXA spacecraft Atasuki. It has been shamelessly borrowed from [Would it be possible to "ride the wave" on Venus?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/19907/12102)

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The recently published paper in Nature Geoscience [Atmospheric mountain wave generation on Venus and its influence on the solid planet’s rotation rate](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0157-x) has open-access links in ~~[Science News](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/venus-thick-atmosphere-speeds-planets-spin)~~, [Motherboard](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xe7w3/venus-atmosphere-is-so-thick-it-moves-mountains), and [Science](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/wind-hitting-venus-s-mountains-makes-planet-rotate-faster).

I haven't found a preprint in arXiv yet.

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There is a stationary gravity wave in Venus's very dense atmosphere. It is intermittent, but has been detected several times. See the NYTimes article [Venus Smiled, With a Mysterious Wave Across Its Atmosphere](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/science/venus-wave-akatsuki.html) for a discussion of recent observations by JAXA. See [Akatsuki](http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/akatsuki.html) and [Happy Birthday, Akatsuki!](http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/planet_c/), celebrating it's first Venusian year at Venus.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/mG2jA.gif)](https://i.sstatic.net/mG2jA.gif)

**above:** "A sequence of images showing the stationary nature of the bow-shape wave above Venus when it was observed in December 2015. Planet-C" from [NYTimes](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/science/venus-wave-akatsuki.html). credit: Planet-C/JAXA

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/RksBA.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/RksBA.jpg)

**above:** "An illustration of how gravity waves travel up mountains and into Venus’s atmosphere. Credit ESA" From [How Mountains Obscured by Venus’s Clouds Reveal Themselves](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/science/venus-express-clouds-mountains.html).


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