Mass Transfer Theory Based Analysis of Influencing Factors on Component Gradient of Near-surface Atmosphere on Venus

Abstract

The atmosphere of Venus differs completely from that of Earth despite the planets’ similarity in size and mass. At Venus's surface, the atmosphere is hot and dense, with a temperature of approximately 735 K and a pressure of approximately 92 bar. The temperature profile from the Soviet VeGa-2 probe shows high instability of the near-ground potential temperature, which, according to relevant research, can be explained by the vertical gradient of N _2 mole fraction. Based on the Maxwell–Stefan mass transfer theory, we propose a theoretical model of binary gas component for a quantitative discussion of influencing factors for the N _2 vertical concentration gradient, which consist of temperature, gravity, specific heat ratio, mass relative factor, thermal diffusion factor, and CO _2 flux. Our model shows that the 0%–3.5% N _2 concentration gradient cannot be generated without CO _2 flux in the near-ground atmosphere of Venus. And the result with CO _2 source indicates that the 0.000001%–3.5% N _2 concentration gradient at 0–7 km atmosphere can be generated by the 2.7 × 10 ^−6 mol m ^−2 s ^−6 CO _2 flux on Venusian surface, which is in agreement of gradient reckoned by VeGa-2's data. This magnitude of CO _2 flux is close to the one produced by volcanic eruptions on Earth, indicating possible existence of volcanic activities on the surface of Venus. This work has provided the community a new vision to understand the influencing factors of Venusian atmospheres composition distribution.

Keywords

• Solar system terrestrial planets
• Venus
• Solar system
• Atmospheric composition
• Planetary atmospheres