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Is OSSO a significant contributor to the unknown UV absorber in Venus' atmosphere?
  • +6
  • Joanna Victoria Egan,
  • Wuhu Feng,
  • Alexander Dennis James,
  • James Manners,
  • Daniel R Marsh,
  • Sebastien Lebonnois,
  • Franck Lefèvre,
  • Aurélien Stolzenbach,
  • John Maurice Campbell Plane
Joanna Victoria Egan
University of Leeds
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Wuhu Feng
National Centre for Atmospheric Science
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Alexander Dennis James
University of Leeds
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James Manners
Met Office
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Daniel R Marsh
University of Leeds
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Sebastien Lebonnois
Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique
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Franck Lefèvre
LATMOS
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Aurélien Stolzenbach
IAA
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John Maurice Campbell Plane
University of Leeds

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

It has been proposed that two isomers of the SO dimer (cis- and trans-OSSO) are candidates for the unknown UV absorber in Venus’ atmosphere because they have a good spectral match with the absorber, despite the low concentrations predicted by 1D photochemical models. Here OSSO chemistry (production from SO and loss by photolysis, thermal decomposition, and reaction with O and Cl) has been included in the photochemistry scheme of a 3D planetary climate model (PCM-Venus) along with sulphur injection due to meteoric ablation. 1D multiple scattering radiative transfer modelling is then used to predict the resulting top-of-the-atmosphere reflectance produced by OSSO. The modeled OSSO concentrations are shown to be ~3 orders of magnitude too low to explain the observed absorbance levels, and the predicted ratio of the OSSO isomers provides an unsatisfactory match to the spectral shape of the unknown absorber.
18 Oct 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
18 Oct 2024Published in ESS Open Archive