Towards Understanding the Climate of Venus

ESA’s Venus Express Mission has monitored Venus since April 2006, and scientists worldwide have used mathematical models to investigate its atmosphere and model its circulation. This book summarizes recent work to explore and understand the climate of the planet through a research program under the auspices of the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland. Some of the unique elements that are discussed are the anomalies with Venus’ surface temperature (the huge greenhouse effect causes the surface to rise to 460°C, without which would plummet as low as -40°C), its unusual lack of solar radiation (despite being closer to the Sun, Venus receives less solar radiation than Earth due to its dense cloud cover reflecting 76% back) and the juxtaposition of its atmosphere and planetary rotation (wind speeds can climb up to 200 m/s, much faster than Venus’ sidereal day of 243 Earth-days).

Prof. Bengtsson got his Fil.lic. at the Meteorology Department at the University of Stockholm, Sweden in 1964. He has been a Docent at the Stockholm University in Sweden since 1978. In 2001, he became a Professor/Senior Scientist at the Environmental Systems Science Centre at the University of Reading, UK. In 2008, Prof. Bengtsson was named Director of Earth Science at ISSI in Bern, Switzerland. He has been awarded several times, most recently in 2009 when he received the Silver Medal of the European Meteorological Society. He is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Meteorological Society in the UK, and an Alfred Wegener Medal recipient and Honorary member of the EGU.