X-Band Microwave Radiometry as a Tool for Understanding the Deep Atmosphere of Venus

Understanding the composition, structure, and spatial variability of the deep Venus atmosphere, including the boundary layer, is a key future direction identified in the Decadal Review. While only Mariner 2 carried a microwave radiometer for the expressed purpose of evaluating the Venus atmosphere, subsequent missions to Venus and other planets have used radar receivers in a "passive mode" to map the microwave emission from both surfaces and atmospheres. Additionally, successful mapping of microwave emissions from the atmospheres of Venus and the outer planets using earth-based antenna arrays have given unique insights into the composition and variability of such atmospheres. In the past two decades, multiple observations of Venus have been made at X band (3.6 cm) using the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and maps have been created of the 3.6 cm emission from Venus. Since the emission morphology is related both to surface features and to the deep atmospheric absorption from CO2 and SO2 (see, e.g., Butler et al., Icarus 154, 2001), emission measurements can be used to give unique information regarding the deep atmosphere, once surface effects are removed. Since surface emissivities measured at the 12.6 cm wavelength by the Magellan mission can be extrapolated to 3.6 cm (see, e.g., Tryka and Muhleman, JGR(Planets) 197, 1992), the residual effects due to deep atmospheric variability can potentially be detected, as they were for higher altitudes at shorter wavelengths (1.3 cm and 2.0 cm, Jenkins et.al., Icarus 158, 2002). As results from this study show, the limited resolution and sensitivity of earth-based measurements make detection of moderate atmospheric variability somewhat difficult. However, the higher sensitivity and resolution provided by an orbiting X-Band radiometer can provide important insights into the variability and structure of the Venus boundary layer. As shown in the figure, the vertical resolution of X-Band radiometry compares well with IR sounding of the deep atmosphere of Venus.