- 1Sun Yat-sen University, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Space and Planetary Sciences, Zhuhai, China (titov5@mail.sysu.edu.cn)
- 2Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Imaging of Venus in the ultraviolet-blue spectral range became a powerful tool to study the cloud top morphology, distribution of absorbing species and atmospheric dynamics (Titov et al. 2018). Recent imaging by the UVI instrument onboard JAXA Akatsuki mission significantly extended the gallery of the planet UV images (Yamazaki et al. 2018). The mission monitored the Venus cloud tops from equatorial orbit thus complementing earlier Venus Express observations from the polar orbit (Titov et al. 2011). Most importantly Akatsuki UVI camera had two narrow-band filters at 283 nm and 365 nm. The former was centred on the SO2 absorption feature with some contribution from the unknown UV absorber, while the latter sounded the spectral feature of the unknown UV absorber solely. Iwanaka et al. (2025) used these images to constrain the spatial and local time distribution of both absorbers at the cloud tops. In this talk we will present preliminary qualitative analysis of the UVI/ Akatsuki images in two areas. Firstly, we will compare the global cloud top morphology seen by UVI/Akatsuki and VMC/Venus Express at 365 nm. The views of Venus captured by the two spacecraft are highly complementary due to different orbits. Secondly, we will present preliminary comparative analysis of 283nm/ 365nm image pairs simultaneously captured by Akatsuki. This would allow constrain relative vertical distribution of sulfuric acid clouds, unknown UV absorber, and SO2 gas.
References
Titov et al. Clouds and hazes of Venus. Space Sci Rev (2018) 214:126. doi:10.1007/s11214-018-0552-z.
Yamazaki et al. Ultraviolet imager on Venus orbiter Akatsuki and its initial results. Earth Planets and Space (2018), 70(1), 23. doi:10.1186/s40623‐017‐0772‐6
Titov et al. Morphology of the cloud tops as observed by the Venus Express Monitoring Camera. Icarus (2011). doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.06.020
Iwanaka et al. Sulfur dioxide distribution at the Venusian cloud top retrieved from Akatsuki UV images. JGR: Planets (2025), 130, e2024JE008775. doi: 10.1029/2024JE008775
How to cite: Titov, D., Wang, Z., and Iwanaka, T.: Venus cloud top morphology: from VMC/Venus Express to UVI/Akatsuki, Europlanet Science Congress 2026, The Hague, The Netherlands, 7–11 Sep 2026, EPSC2026-774, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2026-774, 2026.
