Japanese Spacecraft Spots Massive Gravity Wave In Venus' Atmosphere (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The Japanese probe Akatsuki has observed a massive gravity wave in the atmosphere of Venus. This is not the first time such a wave was observed on the Solar System's second planet, but it is the largest ever recorded, stretching just over 6,000 miles from end to end. Its features also suggest that the dynamics of Venus' atmosphere are more complex than previously thought. An atmospheric gravity wave is a ripple in the density of a planet's atmosphere, according to the European Space Agency. Akatsuki spotted this particular gravity wave, described in a paper published today in Nature Geoscience, when the probe arrived at the planet on December 7th, 2015. The spacecraft then lost sight of it on December 12th, 2015, because of a change in Akatsuki's orbit. When the probe returned to a position to observe the bow-shaped structure on January 15th, 2016, the bright wave had vanished. What sets the huge December wave apart from previously discovered ones is that it appeared to be stationary above a mountainous region on the planet's surface, despite the background atmospheric winds. The study's authors believe that the bright structure is the result of a gravity wave that was formed in the lower atmosphere as it flowed over the planet's mountainous terrain. It's not clear how the wave exactly propagates to the planet's upper atmosphere, where clouds rotate faster than the planets itself -- four days instead of the 243 days it takes Venus to rotate once.

Comments

Re: Note: Gravity wave != Gravitational wave

[drinkypoo]

In meteorology, we usually discuss stability in terms of parcels because, although imperfect, the assumptions of parcel theory are close enough to be useful in explaining a lot of processes in the atmosphere.

I suppose my problem with it is the name. A parcel is a package. It's wrapped up in a container, by definition, even if that container is just paper. Why are scientists forever picking the most shit name for something? I guess this is a corollary to the saying about never letting software developers name anything. It seems that nerds in general should have their naming powers revoked.

Would you like to contribute to the discussion, or are you just here to troll me, as your most recent post implies?

I was actually just being snarky and making a funny, but once you started to rant, it did make me happy that you weren't enjoying it.