David Luz
Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa

Abstract
Since its arrival to Venus in 2006, ESA's Venus Express mission sparked a renewed interest in our twin planet.
Atmospheric dynamics, together with chemical cycles and radiative processes are the crucial mechanisms which determine the behavior of planetary atmospheres. In particular, characterizing the Venusian atmospheric circulation at various levels of the atmosphere, from the ground to cloud top level, is a key science topic that will help understanding what maintains the atmospheric superrotation and whether such mechanisms are possible in other planetary atmospheres.
Venus Express characterizes the atmospheric circulation through cloud tracking with combined multi-instrument observations. In addition, state of the art ground-based instruments allow coordinated wind measurements which complement those made by spacecraft. Finally, advanced general circulation models have now developed to a stage that allows diagnosing the atmospheric dynamics provided sufficient data are available to optimize model performance.
In this seminar I will discuss how the different approaches of spacecraft, ground-based observations and modelling are providing new insight into Venus' atmospheric dynamics. I will also present some more recent observations made during this year's Venus transit

2012 October 17, 13:30

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Auditorium)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto