  General circulation models (GCMs) are valuable instruments to understand the
most peculiar features in the atmospheres of planets and the mechanisms behind
their dynamics. Venus makes no exception and it has been extensively studied
thanks to GCMs. Here we validate the current version of the Institut Pierre
Simon Laplace (IPSL) Venus GCM, by means of a comparison between the modelled
temperature field and that obtained from data by the Visible and Infrared
Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) and the Venus Express Radio Science
Experiment (VeRa) onboard Venus Express. The modelled thermal structure
displays an overall good agreement with data, and the cold collar is
successfully reproduced at latitudes higher than +/-55\deg, with an extent and
a behavior close to the observed ones. Thermal tides developing in the model
appear to be consistent in phase and amplitude with data: diurnal tide
dominates at altitudes above 10^2 Pa pressure level and at high-latitudes,
while semidiurnal tide dominates between 10^2 and 10^4 Pa, from low to
mid-latitudes. The main difference revealed by our analysis is located poleward
of 50\deg, where the model is affected by a second temperature inversion
arising at 10^3 Pa. This second inversion, possibly related to the adopted
aerosols distribution, is not observed in data.
