The Superrotation of Venus: Where's the Torque?

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the gradient in light pressure caused by Venus's cloud albedo difference can generate enough torque to explain the planet's atmospheric superrotation, offering a new mechanism for this phenomenon.

Contribution

It introduces a novel explanation that the light pressure gradient from Venus's cloud albedo difference can drive atmospheric superrotation, addressing previous difficulties with other mechanisms.

Findings

Light pressure gradient from albedo differences can generate sufficient torque.

The proposed mechanism explains the superrotation without requiring complex wave interactions.

Supports the plausibility of light pressure as a driver of planetary atmospheric dynamics.

Abstract

The superrotation of the atmosphere of Venus requires a large torque on the up- per atmosphere. Mechanisms for providing a net balancing of this through waves or ionospheric motions to other parts of the atmosphere have been proposed but all have difficulties. Here we demonstrate that the albedo gradient from the day to night side of the cloud layer allows a gradient of light pressure that is sufficient to provide an external torque to drive this flow.