Limb imaging of the Venus O2 visible nightglow with the Venus Monitoring Camera

TL;DR

This study uses Venus Express imagery to analyze the global distribution and variability of Venus's O2 visible nightglow, revealing stable emission patterns with episodic intensity increases and potential links to other atmospheric emissions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive global analysis of Venus's O2 nightglow using Venus Monitoring Camera data and compares it with infrared measurements to explore emission correlations.

Findings

Limb-viewing intensities are around 150 kR at lower latitudes.

Emission intensities can rise up to 500 kR during episodes.

A correlation exists between visible and infrared O2 nightglow emissions.

Abstract

We investigated the Venus O2 visible nightglow with imagery from the Venus Monitoring Camera on Venus Express. Drawing from data collected between April 2007 and January 2011, we study the global distribution of this emission, discovered in the late 70s by the Venera 9 and 10 missions. The inferred limb-viewing intensities are on the order of 150 kiloRayleighs at the lower latitudes and seem to drop somewhat towards the poles. The emission is generally stable, although there are episodes when the intensities rise up to 500 kR. We compare a set of Venus Monitoring Camera observations with coincident measurements of the O2 nightglow at 1.27 {\mu}m made with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, also on Venus Express. From the evidence gathered in this and past works, we suggest a direct correlation between the instantaneous emissions from the two O2 nightglow systems. Possible implications regarding the uncertain origin of the atomic oxygen green line at 557.7 nm are noted.