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International audience; While the Ariel mission is primarily designed for the study of warm and hot objects, with an equilibrium temperature above 500 K, in this paper we want to explore a larger sample of possible colder targets. We thus investigate the detectability with Ariel of “temperate” exoplanets (with an equilibrium temperature of 400 K). We first consider the case of hydrogen-rich exoplanets (from Jupiters to sub-Neptunes) and we calculate their infrared transmission spectrum for several classes of stars. We consider the Tier 2 mode of Ariel, for which the resolving power (R = 50 for l < 4 mm and R=15 for l > 4 mm) is sufficient to get information about the chemical composition of the objects. Results show that temperate Jupiters and sub-Neptunes around all types of stars from G2 to M8, with revolution periods of a few tens of days and transit durations of a few hours, could be observed with Ariel, up to distances of about 50 pc for Jupiters and 25 pc for sub-Neptunes. In the case of temperate super-Earths, we estimate that they will not be observable in the Ariel Tier 2 mode. In a study of currently available target candidates, we find one sub-Neptune (TOI-178 g) as possibly observable in Ariel’s Tier 2. This study, a follow-up of “Transit spectroscopy of temperate Jupiters with ARIEL: A feasibility study” (Encrenaz et al., Exp. Astr. 46:31-44, 2018), is submitted to the ARIEL special issue of Experimental Astronomy (manuscript under revision)

Water-rich planets should be ubiquitous in the universe. Among the current exoplanet populations, many of those worlds are subject to important irradiation from their host star. As a consequence, water-rich worlds display supercritical water layer surrounded by an extended steam atmosphere making them good candidates for matching the observed mass-radius distribution of sub-Neptunes [1]. Here we describe a model that computes a realistic structure for water-rich planets by combining an interior model with an updated equation of state (EoS) for water, and an atmospheric model that takes into account radiative transfer. Our model has been applied to the GJ 9827 system as a test case and indicates Earth- or Venus-like interiors for planets b and c, respectively. Planet d could be an irradiated ocean planet with a water mass fraction of ∼20 ± 10%. We also provide mass-radius relationships for water-rich planets and their analytical expression. This allows one to directly retrieve a wide range of planetary compositions, without the requirement to run the model. The possible existence of such planets is discussed in light of atmospheric loss processes, suggesting that some sub-Neptunes are the outcome of planets that lost their H/He reservoirs. Figure 1. Mass-radius relationships produced by our model (green, yellow and red thick lines) [2], compared to mass-radius relationships of planets with only condensed phases and no atmosphere (black, grey and light blue thin lines) [3,4]. A few planets of the solar system, the GJ-9827 system and the TOI-178 system are shown as well [5,6]. [1] Mousis, O., Deleuil, M., Aguichine, A., et al. 2020, ApJL, 896, L22.[2] Aguichine, A., Mousis, O., Deleuil, M., et al. 2021, accepted in ApJ.[3] Zeng, L., Sasselov, D. D., & Jacobsen, S. B. 2016, ApJ, 819, 127.[4] Brugger, B., Mousis, O., Deleuil, M., et al. 2017, ApJ, 850, 93.[5] Kosiarek, M. R., Berardo, D. A., Crossfield, I. J. M., et al. 2021, AJ, 161, 47.[6] Leleu, A., Alibert, Y., Hara, N. C., et al. 2021, A&A, 649, A26.

Exoplanets with size between the Earth and Neptune (1-4R⊕) do not have any equivalent in our Solar System and remain challenging to characterize. Yet, there are ubiquitous in the Galaxy and Fulton et al. (2017) showed that their distribution (number of planets per star vs radius) is bimodal highlighting a gap in the number of planets around 1.7R⊕. Planets with a radius below 1.7R⊕ are thought to be mostly rocky planets, and called Super-Earth, above this limit planets are most likely made of gas and called Sub-Neptune. We made use of the available data from the Hubble Space Telescope in Near-Infrared (HST WFC3 G141) and gathered 18 transmission spectra of planets with size below 6 R⊕ to study the transition between rocky and gaseous planets. First, we used TauREx3 (Al-Refaie et al. 2019), a Bayesian retrieval code, to rule out atmospheric scenarios. We proved that a primary clear atmosphere dominated by Hydrogen and Helium is rejected with more than 3σ for a large majority of planets in the sample. Then, we measured the amplitude of the spectra in the water absorption band (around 1.4μm) and compared observational values to simulated ones using a self-consistent modeling code ExoREM (Baudino et al. 2015; Charnay et al. 2018). We explored the connection between the water absorption amplitudes and the temperature by setting the stellar and planetary parameters to those of HD 3167 c (2.7 R⊕, 8.33 M⊕) and trying different metallicities (1, 10, 100 and 1000 x solar), cloud compositions and temperatures (300-1200K).

Massive and water-rich planets should be ubiquitous in the universe. Many of those worlds are expected to be subject to important irradiation from their host star, and display supercritical water layers surrounded by extended steam atmospheres. Irradiated ocean planets with such inflated hydrospheres have been recently shown to be good candidates for matching the mass-radius distribution of sub-Neptunes. Here we describe a model that computes a realistic structure for water-rich planets by combining an interior model with an updated equation of state (EoS) for water, and an atmospheric model that takes into account radiative transfer. We find that the use of non appropriate EoSs can lead to the overestimation of the planetary radius by up to $\sim$10\%, depending on the planet size and composition. Our model has been applied to the GJ 9827 system as a test case and indicates Earth- or Venus-like interiors for planets b and c, respectively. Planet d could be an irradiated ocean planet with a water mass fraction of $\sim$$20\pm10\%$. We also provide fits for the mass-radius relationships, allowing one to directly retrieve a wide range of planetary compositions, without the requirement to run the model. Our calculations finally suggest that highly irradiated planets lost their H/He content through atmospheric loss processes, and that the leftover material led to either super-Earths or sub-Neptunes, depending on the water mass fraction., Accepted for publication in ApJ

Context. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is highly variable above the clouds of Venus, yet no spatial or temporal variability below the clouds had been known until now. Aims. In order to constrain Venus’s atmospheric circulation and chemistry (including possible volcanic outgassing), more accurate SO2 measurements below the clouds are therefore needed. Methods. We used the high-resolution iSHELL spectrometer located at the NASA IRTF to record thermal night-side spectra, which we fitted using an updated forward radiative transfer model that was previously employed to process SpeX/IRTF and VIRTIS-H/Venus Express spectra. Results. We report, for the first time, an increase in SO2 with increasing latitude (+30% between the minimum near 15°S and > 35°N). This is consistent with the interaction between the Hadley-cell circulation and a postulated vertical profile in SO2 estimated to increase between 30 and 40 km in altitude, as previously suggested by in situ ISAV measurements. Conclusions. This SO2 variability challenges our current understanding of Venus’s tropospheric thermochemistry and underlines the high scientific return from high-resolution spectroscopy from, for example, future orbiters.

International audience; Ultraviolet spectral imaging has been a powerful tool to investigate the cloud top of Venus, allowing for measurement of several minor gases (especially SO2, SO, O3), of cloud top aerosol’s microphysical properties and of atmospheric dynamics through tracking of the unevenly distributed UV absorber. After a brief review of recent UV instruments that orbited around Venus, we present the results of a state-of-the-art radiative transfer model from Marcq et al. (2020) to derive the spectral resolution and Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) required to derive abundances of these gases, retrieve optical properties of the aerosols beyond our current knowledge. This leads us to propose a two-channel UV hyperspectral push-broom imager called VeSUV (standing for Venusian Spectroscopy in UV) whose technical characteristics will improve on existing measurements by a factor of at least 2, and which is well suited to the integration into the payload of future low Venus orbit platforms such as the proposed EnVision mission to ESA M5 call.

International audience; The nighttime ozone and sulfur dioxide distributions were analyzed using the entire SPICAV‐UV/Venus Express stellar occultation dataset. After the discovery of an ozone layer at 100 km in the mesosphere reported by Montmessin et al. (2011), 132 other detections were made during the entire 8 years long observing period of the SPICAV UV instrument. In the rare detections the peak abundances of O3 accumulating in the mesosphere are observed with densities from 107 to 108 molecules⋅cm‐3 at 85‐110 km. The ozone layer is estimated to vary from 1 ppbv to 30 ppbv at 85‐95 km while at 95‐105 km the VMR is expected within an interval from 6 ppbv to 120 ppbv. Below 93 km, a puzzling decrease of mixing ratio is observed toward midnight at 30°N. Our work also provides an improved sequel to the analysis of the sulfur dioxide survey previously made in the upper mesosphere by Belyaev et al. (2017). On average, the SO2 content is found to remain constant throughout the vertical profile at a value of around 135±21 ppbv between 85 and 100 km. Rapid and large variations prevent to conclude firmly on any time or space pattern of SO2.

Since January 2012, we have been monitoring the behavior of sulfur dioxide and water on Venus, using the Texas Echelon Cross-Echelle Spectrograph imaging spectrometer at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF, Mauna Kea Observatory). Here, we present new data recorded in February and April 2019 in the 1345 cm−1(7.4μm) spectral range, where SO2, CO2, and HDO (used as a proxy for H2O) transitions were observed. The cloud top of Venus was probed at an altitude of about 64 km. As in our previous studies, the volume mixing ratio (vmr) of SO2was estimated using the SO2/CO2line depth ratio of weak transitions; the H2O volume mixing ratio was derived from the HDO/CO2line depth ratio, assuming a D/H ratio of 200 times the Vienna standard mean ocean water. As reported in our previous analyses, the SO2mixing ratio shows strong variations with time and also over the disk, showing evidence for the formation of SO2plumes with a lifetime of a few hours; in contrast, the H2O abundance is remarkably uniform over the disk and shows moderate variations as a function of time. We have used the 2019 data in addition to our previous dataset to study the long-term variations of SO2and H2O. The data reveal a long-term anti-correlation with a correlation coefficient of −0.80; this coefficient becomes −0.90 if the analysis is restricted to the 2014–2019 time period. The statistical analysis of the SO2plumes as a function of local time confirms our previous result with a minimum around 10:00 and two maxima near the terminators. The dependence of the SO2vmr with respect to local time shows a higher abundance at the evening terminator with respect to the morning. The dependence of the SO2vmr with respect to longitude exhibits a broad maximum at 120–200° east longitudes, near the region of Aphrodite Terra. However, this trend has not been observed by other measurements and has yet to be confirmed.

International audience; Large planetesimals and planetary embryos ranging from several hundred to a few thousand kilometers can develop magma oceans through mutual collisions, gravitational energy, and the heating of short-lived radioactive elements. During their solidification after the dissipation of the disk a steam atmosphere will be catastrophically outgassed and may be lost efficiently via hydrodynamic escape, as long as it does not condense. The escaping H-atoms that originate from the dissociation of H2O and H2 will drag heavier trace elements like noble gases such as Ne and Ar and outgassed moderately volatile rock-forming elements such as K, Na, Si, Mg, etc. into space. Under consideration of various EUV flux evolution scenarios of young solar-type stars, we apply an upper atmosphere hydrodynamic escape model that includes the dragging of heavier species by escaping H-atoms. We investigate the atmospheric/elemental escape and fractionation from planetary embryos with masses of 1 MMoon, 0.5 MMars, 1 MMars, and 1.5 MMars at different orbital distances between the orbits of Venus and Mars. Our results indicate that the steam atmospheres and the embedded trace elements will be lost efficiently before they condense for masses ≤0.5 MMars and orbital distances up to 1 AU. For heavier embryos of up to 1.5 MMars almost all of the considered steam atmospheres can be lost within ≈12 Myr, which lies within the time frame of the formation of the first Martian protocrust after ≈20 Myr, i.e. for such steam atmospheres to be lost completely a shallow magma ocean must remain below the atmosphere, which might be achieved through frequent impacts onto the planetary embryo. The considered outgassed noble gases and rock-forming elements will be completely dragged away together with the steam atmospheres under the assumption that the trace elements will reach the thermosphere. For embryos with masses ≤MMoon the gravity is too weak for a dense atmosphere to build up for the high magma ocean related surface temperatures and all outgassed elements will escape immediately to space. For all considered planetary masses and orbits the loss rates of Ar and Ne are so high that there will be no fractionation of their isotopes. The studied planetary embryos, even though not isotopically fractionated, will therefore be severely depleted in noble gases and moderately volatile elements. Hydrodynamic escape might then also affect the final composition of terrestrial planets that accrete out of such planetary embryos, such as the volatile content and the Fe/Mg ratio of a planet.

International audience; Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) observations were obtained on 3 dates in December 2010 and January 2011 recording the cloud top properties over Aphrodite Terra and a low elevation region downwind of Aphrodite through LSTs extending from 7 to 11 a.m. From these data we trace the cloud top sulfur-oxide chemistry and UV albedo sensitivity to LST, latitude and topography. Above regions co-located in LST and latitude, albedo variations observed at 245 nm parallel those observed at 365 nm-following the pattern expected from Hadley cell circulation. However, darkening of the cloud top albedo at LSTs between 9.5 and 11 h beyond that expected from simple Hadley circulation was also observed. Above the plains the albedo darkening intensified rapidly with LST and was observed at latitudes extending as high as ~30 N; however, above the mountains the darkening was either entirely absent or evident only at 0 N at an intensity 2× lower than that observed over the plains. Because the observed 245 nm albedo LST variations were inconsistent with that expected from multiple scattering of the coincidently retrieved SO2 gas abundance, we conclude that the 245 nm albedo is diagnostic of the vertical and spatial distribution, abundance (and potentially the identity) of Venus' unidentified UV absorber—rather than SO2 gas. The LST albedo trends are best explained by the onset of subsolar convective activity that intensifies with LST expanding vertically from the boundary between the middle and upper clouds to the cloud tops and increasing the detectability of the unknown absorbing species at the cloud tops. The terrain dependence in the observed intensity implies the time at which the expansion reaches the cloud tops is later above the mountains than over the plains. Additionally, at the time of observation, the low-latitude large-scale vertical mixing rates that control the latitudinal gradients of the SO2 and unknown absorber abundances above and within the cloud top region were lower over Aphrodite Terra than the plains, to the extent that photochemical processing destroyed the spatial correlation between those absorbing species. These observations show the power of UV spectroscopy to diagnose the distinct influences of deep (Hadley-cell type) and shallow convective mixing processes on the vertical and horizontal distribution of Venus' unknown absorbing species, and the sensitivity of these processes to LST and topography, relative to the sulfur oxide chemistry. These results are essential for accurate climate modeling—and when compared to recent Venus missions motivate a need for additional follow-on observing campaigns that simultaneously trace key cloud top chemistry and dynamic processes including the LST dependent evolution of planetary scale gravity waves (GWs). With the inevitable aging of the Hubble Telescope, follow-on observations providing temporally coincident traces of the cloud top albedo, sulfur-oxide chemistry and GW features will require a new age of space-based telescopes and Venus orbiting mission with sensitivity to UV, visible and IR wavelengths.

Following the announcement of the detection of phosphine (PH$_3$) in the cloud deck of Venus at millimeter wavelengths, we have searched for other possible signatures of this molecule in the infrared range. Since 2012, we have been observing Venus in the thermal infrared at various wavelengths to monitor the behavior of SO$_2$ and H$_2$O at the cloud top. We have identified a spectral interval recorded in March 2015 around 950 cm$^{-1}$ where a PH$_3$ transition is present. From the absence of any feature at this frequency, we derive, on the disk-integrated spectrum, a 3-$\sigma$ upper limit of 5 ppbv for the PH$_3$ mixing ratio, assumed to be constant throughout the atmosphere. This limit is 4 times lower than the disk-integrated mixing ratio derived at millimeter wavelengths. Our result brings a strong constraint on the maximum PH$_3$ abundance at the cloud top and in the lower mesosphere of Venus., Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press

International audience; Following our previous work (Marcq et al., 2013, Marcq et al., 2011), we have updated our forward radiative transfer code and processed the whole SPICAV-UV/Venus Express nadir dataset (2006-2014) in order to retrieve SO2 abundance at cloud top – assuming a SO2 decreasing scale height of 3 km and a ratio SO/SO2 tied to 10% – as well as the imaginary index of scattering mode 1 particles, representative of the remaining UV absorption, since the OSSO vertical profile found by Frandsen et al. (2016) cannot account for our observations. Our main results mostly confirm and extend the validity of those discussed by Marcq et al. (2013), namely: (i) long-term variations of low latitude SO2 at 70 km between ∼ 100 ppbv (2007, 2009) and less than 10 ppbv (2014); (ii) in average, decreasing SO2 with increasing latitude and depletion near the sub-solar point, consistent with a competition between advection and photo-chemical destruction; (iii) secular increase of mode 1 imaginary index at 250 nm, from 10−2 to 5 ⋅ 10−2 between 2006 and 2010; (iv) if not related instead to long-term variability, a possible localized enrichment of SO2 and UV brightness increase above the western slopes of Aphrodite Terra, consistent with Bertaux et al. (2016) supply mechanism through orographic gravity waves. This spatial and temporal variability underlines the need for a long term monitoring of Venus SO2 and cloud top from ground-based facilities until the next generation of Venusian orbiters is operational.

International audience; After the first sporadic detections of an ozone (O33 volume mixing ratio peaks in the 10 to 20 ppbv range, yielding observable column densities in the 0.1 to 0.5 Dobson units (DU), comparable to nominal values on Mars but much smaller than for Earth ( ∼ 300 DU). These measurements are supported by our 3D-photochemical model coupled with the LMD-IPSL GCM (Lebonnois et al., 2010), which indicates that the ozone layer identified by SPICAV results from downward transport of O2 ( ∼ 50 ppmv) molecules over the poles by the mean meridional circulation. Our findings do not contradict previous upper limits (

Since January 2012 we have been monitoring the behavior of sulfur dioxide and water on Venus, using the Texas Echelon Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) imaging spectrometer at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF, Mauna Kea Observatory). We present here the observations obtained between January 2016 and September 2018. As in the case of our previous runs, data were recorded around 1345 cm−1 (7.4 μm). The molecules SO2, CO2, and HDO (used as a proxy for H2O) were observed, and the cloudtop of Venus was probed at an altitude of about 64 km. The volume mixing ratio of SO2 was estimated using the SO2/CO2 line depth ratios of weak transitions; the H2O volume mixing ratio was derived from the HDO/CO2 line depth ratio, assuming a D/H ratio of 200 times the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW). As reported in our previous analyses, the SO2 mixing ratio shows strong variations with time and also over the disk, showing evidence of the formation of SO2 plumes with a lifetime of a few hours; in contrast, the H2O abundance is remarkably uniform over the disk and shows moderate variations as a function of time. We performed a statistical analysis of the behavior of the SO2 plumes, using all TEXES data between 2012 and 2018. They appear mostly located around the equator. Their distribution as a function of local time seems to show a depletion around noon; we do not have enough data to confirm this feature definitely. The distribution of SO2 plumes as a function of longitude shows no clear feature, apart from a possible depletion around 100E–150E and around 300E–360E. There seems to be a tendency for the H2O volume mixing ratio to decrease after 2016, and for the SO2 mixing ratio to increase after 2014. However, we see no clear anti-correlation between the SO2 and H2O abundances at the cloudtop, neither on the individual maps nor over the long term. Finally, there is a good agreement between the TEXES results and those obtained in the UV range (SPICAV/Venus Express and UVI/Akatsuki) at a slightly higher altitude. This agreement shows that SO2 observations obtained in the thermal infrared can be used to extend the local time coverage of the SO2 measurements obtained in the UV range.

The Venus Emissivity Mapper is the first flight instrument designed to focus on mapping the surface of Venus using atmospheric windows around 1 micron. After several years of development, VEM has a mature design with an existing laboratory prototype verifying an achievable instrument SNR of well above 1000, as well as predicted error in retrieval of relative emissivity of better than 1%, assuming the availability of an improved Venus topography. It will provide a global map of rock type, iron contents and redox state of the surface by observing the surface with six narrow band filters, ranging from 0.86 to 1.18 micron. Three additional windows allow corrections for cloud composition and variability, two measure water abundance, and three compensate for stray light. Continuous observation of Venus' thermal emission will also place tighter constraints on current day volcanic activity. Eight of the channels provide measurements of atmospheric water vapor abundance as well as cloud microphysics and dynamics and permit accurate correction of atmospheric interference on the surface data. Combining VEM with a high-resolution radar mapper, such as on the ESA EnVision or NASA VERITAS mission proposals, will provide key insights into the divergent evolution of Venus and Earth.

International audience; In this paper we present the first night side distribution of SO2 content in Venus’ upper mesosphere (altitudes from 85 to 105 km). The dataset is based on the SPICAV UV stellar occultation experiment which took place onboard ESA's Venus Express (VEX) orbiter in 2006-2014. The UV channel of SPICAV spectrometer detected absorption bands of SO2 and CO2 in the spectral range 180-300 nm with a resolution of 1-2 nm while stellar light was occulted by the mesosphere. Altitude profiles of sulfur dioxide's volume mixing ratio (VMR) could be retrieved in the upper part of the mesosphere covering the whole night side on Venus. In parallel, we have reprocessed the terminator UV solar occultations dataset (Belyaev et al. (2012). Icarus 217, 740-751) in the same altitude range and extended its statistics until 2014. On average the SO2 VMR increases with altitude from 10-30 ppb at 85 km to 100-300 ppb at 100 km in both regimes of occultation. The midnight SO2 abundance appears to be 3-4 times higher than in the terminator region: 150-200 ppbv versus 50 pppv at altitude around 95 km. These new results were compared with the distribution of oxygen atoms, which are tracers of the global subsolar-antisolar (SS-AS) circulation at ∼100 km (the data provided by Soret et al. (2012). Icarus, 217, 849–855). The night time behavior looks similar for SO2 molecules and O atoms with a correlation coefficient Rcorr = 0.73. Moreover, the retrieved SO2 enrichment above 85 km appears to correlate with the density of H2SO4 droplets (Luginin et al., 2016; Icarus 277, 154–170).

International audience; The vertical distribution of sulfur species in the Venus atmosphere has been investigated and discussed in Part I of this series of papers dealing with the variability of SO2 on Venus. In this second part, we focus our attention on the spatial (horizontal) and temporal variability exhibited by SO2. Appropriate data sets – SPICAV/UV nadir observations from Venus Express, ground-based ALMA and TEXES, as well as UV observation on the Hubble Space Telescope – have been considered for this analysis. High variability both on short-term and short-scale are observed. The long-term trend observed by these instruments shows a succession of rapid increases followed by slow decreases in the SO2 abundance at the cloud top level, implying that the transport of air from lower altitudes plays an important role. The origins of the larger amplitude short-scale, short-term variability observed at the cloud tops are not yet known but are likely also connected to variations in vertical transport of SO2 and possibly to variations in the abundance and production and loss of H2O, H2SO4, and Sx.

International audience; SPICAV VIS-IR spectrometer on-board the Venus Express mission measured the H2O abundance above Venus’ clouds in the 1.38 µm band, and provided an estimation of the cloud top altitude based on CO2 bands in the range of 1.4-1.6 μm. The H2O content and the cloud top altitude have been retrieved for the complete Venus Express dataset from 2006 to 2014 taking into account multiple scattering in the cloudy atmosphere. The cloud top altitude, corresponding to unit nadir aerosol optical depth at 1.48 μm, varies from 68 to 73 km at latitudes from 40ºS to 40ºN with an average of 70.2±0.8 km assuming the aerosol scale height of 4 km. In high northern latitudes, the cloud top decreases to 62-68 km. The altitude of formation of water lines ranges from 59 to 66 km. The H2O mixing ratio at low latitudes (20ºS-20ºN) is equal to 6.1±1.2 ppm with variations from 4 to 11 ppm and the effective altitude of 61.9±0.5 km. Between 30º and 50º of latitude in both hemispheres, a local minimum was observed with a value of 5.4±1 ppm corresponding to the effective altitude of 62.1±0.6 km and variations from 3 to 8 ppm. At high latitudes in both hemispheres, the water content varies from 4 to 12 ppm with an average of 7.2±1.4 ppm which corresponds to 60.6±0.5 km. Observed variations of water vapor in 2-3 times on the short timescale appreciably exceed individual measurement errors and could be explained as a real variation of the mixing ratio or/and possible variations of the cloud opacity within the clouds. The maximum of water at lower latitudes supports a possible convection and injection of water from lower atmospheric layers. The vertical gradient of water vapor inside the clouds explains well the increase of water near the poles correlating with the decrease of the cloud top altitude and the H2O effective altitude. On the contrary, the depletion of water in middle latitudes does not correlate with the H2O effective altitude and cannot be completely explained by the vertical gradient of water vapor within the clouds. Retrieved H2O mixing ratio is higher than those obtained in 2.56 μm from VIRTIS-H data [Cottini et al., 2015] at altitudes of 68-70 km which is well consistent with the lower altitudes of water mixing ratio from the 1.38 µm band. Observations for different solar and emission angles allowed to constrain also the average vertical distribution of H2O mixing ratio in the clouds at altitudes of 59-66 km with 2 ppm at 66 km and 7-7.5 ppm at 59-61 km. The water vapor latitudinal-longitudinal distribution does not show any direct correlation with the cloud tops. Yet a strong asymmetry of H2O longitudinal distribution has been observed with a maximum of 7-7.5 ppm from -120º to 30º of longitude and shifted to the southern hemisphere (20ºS-10ºN). To the east, the minimum is observed with values not in excess of 6 ppm and over a wide range of longitudes from 30º to 160º. Bertaux et al. (2015) announced a correlation between the zonal wind pattern in the equatorial region and underlying topography of Aphrodite Terra as the result of stationary gravity waves produced at the ground level near the mountains. The water minimum corresponds to the Aphrodite Terra highlands and can be also associated with the influence of Venus topography. No prominent long-term on the time scale of 8.5 years nor local time variations of water vapor and the cloud top altitude were detected.

Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) UV observations of Venus' upper cloud tops were obtained between 20N and 40S latitude on December 28, 2010; January 22, 2011 and January 27, 2011 in coordination with the Venus Express (VEx) mission. The high spectral (0.27nm) and spatial (40-60km/pixel) resolution HST/STIS data provide the first direct and simultaneous record of the latitude and local time distribution of Venus' 70-80km SO and SO2 (SOx) gas density on Venus' morning quadrant. These data were obtained simultaneously with (a) VEx/SOIR occultation and/or ground-based James Clerk Maxwell Telescope sub-mm observations that record respectively, Venus' near-terminator SO2 and dayside SOx vertical profiles between ~75 and 100km; and (b) 0.36μm VEx/VMC images of Venus' cloud-tops. Updating the (Marcq, E. et al. [2011]. Icarus 211, 58-69) radiative transfer model SO2 gas column densities of ~2-10μm-atm and ~0.4-1.8μm-atm are retrieved from the December 2010 and January 2011 HST observations, respectively on Venus' dayside (i.e., at solar zenith angles (SZA)x gas densities. On December 28, 2010 SO2 VMR values ~280-290ppb are retrieved between 74 and 81km from the HST and SOIR data obtained near Venus' morning terminator (at SZAs equal to 70° and 90°, respectively); these values are 10× higher than the HST-retrieved January 2011 near terminator values. Thus, the cloud top SO2 gas abundance declined at all local times between the three HST observing dates. On all dates the average dayside SO2/SO ratio inferred from HST between 70 and 80km is higher than that inferred from the sub-mm the JCMT data above 84km confirming that SOx photolysis is more efficient at higher altitudes. The direct correlation of the SOx gases provides the first clear evidence that SOx photolysis is not the only source for Venus' 70-80km sulfur reservoir. The cloud top SO2 gas density is dependent in part on the vertical transport of the gas from the lower atmosphere; and the 0.24μm cloud top brightness levels are linked to the density of the sub-micron haze. Thus, the new results may suggest a correlation between Venus' cloud-top sub-micron haze density and the vertical transport rate. These new results must be considered in models designed to simulate and explore the relationship between Venus' sulfur chemistry cycle, H2SO4 cloud formation rate and climate evolution. Additionally, we present the first photochemical model that uniquely tracks the transition of the SO2 atmosphere from steady to non-steady state with increasing SZA, as function of altitude within Venus' mesosphere, showing the photochemical and dynamical basis for the factor of ~2 enhancements in the SOx gas densities observed by HST near the terminator above that observed at smaller SZA. These results must also be considered when modeling the long-term evolution of Venus' atmospheric chemistry and dynamics.

International audience; We present unique polarization data from the SPICAV-IR spectrometer onboard ESA's Venus Express (VEx) spacecraft and a first retrieval of cloud parameters. The polarization data have been collected from 2006 to 2010, and cover mostly the northern hemisphere, in the 0.65 to View the MathML source spectral range. They contain information about latitudinal and longitudinal variations in the properties of Venus clouds and hazes, and about temporal variations in these properties. The degree of polarization measured on a few test orbits is in agreement with previous observations from the ground and from Pioneer Venus . Using numerical modeling to interpret the nadir observations, we retrieve mean values of View the MathML source and νeff∼0.07 for, respectively, the effective radius and variance of the cloud particle size distribution and a refractive index nr=1.42±0.02 at View the MathML source. We also derive an upper limit τh=0.17 at View the MathML source for the haze optical thickness at high latitudes. All these values are in good agreement with previous determinations.

On the basis of geological evidence, it is often stated that the early martian climate was warm enough for liquid water to flow on the surface thanks to the greenhouse effect of a thick atmosphere. We present 3D global climate simulations of the early martian climate performed assuming a faint young sun and a CO2 atmosphere with pressure between 0.1 and 7 bars. The model includes a detailed radiative transfer model using revised CO2 gas collision induced absorption properties, and a parameterisation of the CO2 ice cloud microphysical and radiative properties. A wide range of possible climates is explored by using various values of obliquities, orbital parameters, cloud microphysic parameters, atmospheric dust loading, and surface properties. Unlike on present day Mars, for pressures higher than a fraction of a bar, surface temperatures vary with altitude because of the adiabatic cooling and warming of the atmosphere when it moves vertically. In most simulations, CO2 ice clouds cover a major part of the planet but greenhouse effect does not exceed +15 K. We find that a CO2 atmosphere could not have raised the annual mean temperature above 0{\deg}C anywhere on the planet. The collapse of the atmosphere into permanent CO2 ice caps is predicted for pressures higher than 3 bar, or conversely at pressure lower than one bar if the obliquity is low enough. Summertime diurnal mean surface temperatures above 0{\deg}C (a condition which could have allowed rivers to form) are predicted for obliquity larger than 40{\deg} at high latitudes but not in locations where most valley networks are observed. In the absence of other warming mechanisms, our climate model results are thus consistent with a cold early Mars scenario in which non climatic mechanisms must occur to explain the evidence for liquid water. In a companion paper by Wordsworth et al., we simulate the hydrological cycle on such a planet., Comment: Icarus, In press. 23 pages, 18 figures

International audience; New measurements of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and monoxide (SO) in the atmosphere of Venus by SPICAV / SOIR instrument onboard Venus Express orbiter provide ample statistics to study the behavior of these gases above Venus' clouds. The instrument (a set of 3 spectrometers) is capable to sound atmospheric structure above the clouds in several observation modes (nadir, solar and stellar occultations) either in the UV or in the near IR spectral ranges. We present the results from solar occultations in the absorption ranges of SO2 (190-230 nm, and at 4 μm) and SO (190-230 nm). The dioxide was detected by the SOIR spectrometer at the altitudes of 65-80 km in the IR and by the SPICAV spectrometer at 85-105 km in the UV. The monoxide's absorption was measured only by SPICAV at 85-105 km. We considered 39 sessions of solar occultation, where boresights of both spectrometers are oriented identically, to provide full vertical profiling of SO2 of the Venus' mesosphere (65-105 km). Here we report the first firm detection and measurements of two SO2 layers. In the lower layer SO2 mixing ratio is within 0.02-0.5 ppmv. The upper layer, also conceivable from microwave measurements by Sandor et al. (2010) is characterized by SO2 increasing with the altitude from 0.05 to 2 ppmv, and the [SO2]/[SO] ratio varying from 1 to 5. The presence of the high-altitude SOx species could be explained by H2SO4 photodissociation under certain temperature conditions in Venus mesosphere. At 90-100 km the content of the sulfur dioxide correlates with temperature increasing from 0.1 ppmv at 165-170 K to 0.5-1 ppmv at 190-192 K. It supports the hypothesis of SO2production by the evaporation of H2SO4 from droplets and its subsequent photolysis at around 100 km.

International audience; The chemical regimes in the atmosphere of Venus vary from photochemistry in the middle atmosphere to thermal equilibrium chemistry in the lower atmosphere and the surface. Many chemical cycles have been proposed, but few details about these cycles are fully verified by comparison between observations and modeling. Recent high-quality data of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and CO from ground-based and Venus Express observations provide a unique opportunity to test our understanding of chemistry and transport in the lower atmosphere of Venus. The spatial distributions of OCS and CO in the atmosphere reflect a sensitive balance between chemistry and transport. On the basis of our updated photochemical model and winds from Lee et al.'s (2007) general circulation model, we study the chemistry and transport in a simplified two-dimensional chemistry-transport model. OCS is produced by heterogeneous reactions on the surface; the middle atmosphere is a net sink for OCS. The combination of data and modeling provides strong evidence for the loss of OCS by conversion to CO. The detailed chemical mechanism is currently unknown, although a number of speculations have been proposed. The sensitivity of the distributions of OCS and CO to model parameters is reported.

International audience; The high-resolution channel (R $\simeq$ 2000) of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument (VIRTIS-H) aboard Venus Express has provided numerous spectra of the nightside infrared thermal emission in the 2.3-μm window. Mixing ratios of various minor species in the 30-40 km range could therefore be inferred using this spectral window at higher latitudes accessible to the spacecraft but which cannot be observed from Earth. The previously known enhancement in carbon monoxide (CO) toward high latitudes is confirmed and extended up to 60° with a mixing ratio varying from 24 +/- 3 to 31 +/- 2 ppmv at 36 km. Measurements of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) also agree with the previously suspected latitudinal variations that are anticorrelated with those of CO, ranging between 2.5 +/- 1 and 4 +/- 1 ppmv at 33 km. New constraints were also derived on the mean abundance of water vapor (H2O, 31 +/- 2 ppmv) and sulfur dioxide (SO2, 130 +/- 50 ppmv) in the probed altitude range. CO and OCS variations are interpreted as caused by large-scale vertical motions, an explanation under current testing by various chemical and dynamical modeling. In such a case, these variations may help constrain the chemical time scale of those species in the lower troposphere.

We present an investigation of the lower atmosphere in the 25–40 km altitude range from data of Venus’ night side in the 2.3- μ m region. We used observations recorded at the NASA/IRTF in August 2004 with the SpeX spectro-imager. The previous conclusions of Marcq et al. [2005, Latitudinal variations of CO and OCS in the lower atmosphere of Venus from near-infrared nightside spectro-imaging, Icarus 179, 375–386] about CO and OCS abundance latitudinal variations are confirmed with a better accounting for cloud opacity variations; in particular, an enhancement of 12 ± 4 % in CO at 36 km is found at 40 ∘ S with respect to the equator. There is also a depletion of OCS southward of 20 ∘ S, that may be correlated with the CO increase. Information on the vertical gradients of the CO and OCS profiles was derived, yielding the following mixing ratios in the probed altitude range: CO ( 30 km ) = 22.5 ± 3.5 ppm , CO ( 36 km ) = 24 ± 2 ppm ; OCS ( 30 km ) = 5 – 20 ppm , OCS ( 36 km ) = 0.55 ± 0.15 ppm . The study was also extended to H 2 O and no latitudinal variations are found beyond our error bars ( 26 ± 4 ppm at 35 km ).

International audience; Spectro-imaging of Venus' nightside in the 2.3-μm window provides a powerful means of probing the lower atmosphere in the 25–40 km altitude range. We present observations recorded at the NASA/IRTF in February 2003 and August 2004, using the SpeX spectro-imager in the 2.1–2.5-μm region. Abundances of CO and OCS have been derived as a function of latitude for different longitudes. The CO abundance increases by about 15% between the equatorial region and higher latitudes (±40°). No longitudinal or temporal variations are observed. The OCS abundance shows the opposite variation in observational sets with sufficient S/N. These variations and anticorrelation are consistent with upwelling motions in the equatorial region and downwelling at higher latitudes.

We numerically calculate equilibrium configurations of uniformly rotating and charged neutron stars, in the case of insulating material and neglecting the electromagnetic forces acting on the equilibrium of the fluid. This allows us to study the behaviour of the gyromagnetic ratio for those objects, when varying rotation rate and equation of state for the matter. Under the assumption of low charge and incompressible fluid, we find that the gyromagnetic ratio is directly proportional to the compaction parameter M/R of the star, and very little dependent on its angular velocity. Nevertheless, it seems impossible to have g=2 for these models with low charge-to-mass ratio, where matter consists of a perfect fluid and where the collapse limit is never reached., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravity

Venus is quite similar to Earth in terms of mass and radius, but it appears to be a hellish planetwith surface temperature reaching 700 K and pressions up to 92 bars. The atmosphere is mostlycomposed of carbon dioxyde and despite a slow retrograde rotating solid body, the atmosphereis in superrotation with a period of about four days and zonal winds reaching 100 m/s at cloudtop level. In visible light, the surface is always hidden by thick decks of clouds mostly madeof sulfuric acid. These clouds are very important in venusian climate as they play a key role inthe radiative balance of the planet because of their opacity and their high albedo and also in thechemical cycles of sulfur especially.In orbit since 2006, the European space agency’s probe Venus Express had the objective tostudy the atmosphere and clouds of Venus. Amongst its instruments was the SPICAV spectrometerwhich infrared channel had the ability to measure the degree of linear polarisation fromthe light scattered by the clouds. This thesis aims to study these observations acquired by SPICAVIRuntil the end of the mission in 2014.We will introduce the planet Venus with a particular focuson the cloud layers. We will then cover the principles of the polarisation of light through scatteringby cloud particles before we introduce the measurement of polarization by our instrument.We also introduce the radiative transfer model taking into account polarization and apply it tothe observations of a phenomenon called glory which allows to characterize the properties of thecloud droplets. We will then invesigate the variability of the haze layers lying above the maincloud deck., Vénus, bien que de taille et de masse très similaire à la Terre, se révèle en fait un monde infernaloù la température de surface atteint 700 K et la pression s’élève à 92 bars. De plus, l’atmosphèreest principalement composée de dioxyde de carbone (à plus de 90 %). Bien que le corps solide aitune période de rotation très lente et rétrograde, l’atmosphère est elle en superrotation avec unepériode de quatre jours environ au sommet des nuages, avec des vents zonaux pouvant atteindre100 m/s. Observée dans le visible, Vénus ne laisse pas voir sa surface, cachée sous d’épais nuagesd’acide sulfurique qui couvrent en permanence l’intégralité de la planète. Ces nuages jouent unrôle très important dans l’atmosphère vénusienne car ils sont fondamentaux dans le bilan radiatifde la planète de par leur opacité et leur albédo élevé mais aussi dans les cycles chimiques denombreuses espèces, notamment celui du soufre.Arrivée en orbite en avril 2006, la mission européenne Venus Express avait pour objectif d’étudieren détail l’atmosphère de la planète. Parmi ses instruments se trouvait le spectromètre SPICAVdont le canal infrarouge permettait de mesurer le degré de polarisation linéaire de la lumièrediffusée par les nuages. Cette thèse vise à l’exploitation de données acquises par SPICAV-IR quia fonctionné jusqu’à la fin de la mission Venus Express en 2014. Nous présentons la planète Vénuset plus particulièrement les propriétés des nuages qui l’entourent. Nous nous intéresseronsà la polarisation produite par la diffusion de la lumière dans les nuages avant d’expliquer commentSPICAV-IR la mesure. Nous présentons notre modèle de transfert de rayonnement prenanten compte la polarisation et nous analyserons les gloires observées par SPICAV-IR afin de caractériserles propriétés des nuages. Enfin, nous nous intéresserons à la variabilité spatiale des brumessituées au dessus des nuages.