Exploring the feasibility of detecting seismically-generated infrasound waves on Venus using balloon platforms

Seismic waves are a primary source of information for our understanding of Earth's internal structure and they provide important constraints on subsurface seismic-velocity properties. However, traditional inversion methods cannot be implemented in regions of limited seismic-station coverage, in particular on Venus due to its harsh surface conditions but also in remote Earth regions. This lack of seismic data greatly limits our understanding of Venus’ origin and evolution and Earth’s subsurface. A window of opportunity is offered by the mechanical coupling between the ground and its atmosphere, which enables the seismic energy to be transmitted into the atmosphere as low-frequency acoustic waves carrying information about the seismic source and the subsurface properties. While infrasound is traditionally recorded at ground-based stations, which suffers from the same in-situ deployment limitations as seismic stations, recent studies have demonstrated that balloon platforms can be used to monitor seismic activity from the atmosphere at a low operational cost. Balloon-borne seismology is a new dynamic field and this might be the only viable approach to investigate Venus’ interior. However, inversion methods for balloon-borne infrasound data are not well developed and the coupling between seismic and acoustic waves in realistic media is not fully understood. In this contribution, we will explore the feasibility of detecting seismically-generated infrasound waves on Venus and assess their potential for subsurface velocity inversions through full-waveform numerical simulations.