[P-PS04] Advancing the science of Venus in the golden age of exploration

[PPS04-P15] Gravity waves in the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere of Venus

*Moa Persson¹, Takeshi Imamura¹, Kerstin Peter², Silvia Tellmann², Martin Pätzold² (1.Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan, 2.Rhenish Institute for Environmental Research, Cologne, Germany)

Keywords:Venus, gravity waves, ionosphere, neutral atmosphere, radio occultation

Gravity waves formed near the cloud deck of the Venusian middle atmosphere propagates upwards. As they move into lower background densities at higher altitudes they get saturated, and as a consequence they may break and transfer its energy and momentum to the upper atmosphere. These waves therefore contribute to the redistribution of the energy and momentum in the atmosphere. Some of these waves can propagate up to very high altitudes, into the thermosphere above 120 km altitude. As part of thermosphere is ionized by the solar extreme ultraviolet radiation, and creates the tenuous ionosphere, the waves or variations in the thermosphere may transfer to variations in the ionospheric electron density. Therefore, gravity waves propagating from the lower altitude may affect the ionosphere. In this study, we use the radio occultation measurements from Venus Express and Akatsuki to investigate potential coupling between the gravity waves observed in the neutral temperature measurements in the middle atmosphere and the variations observed in the electron density measurements of the ionosphere.