Investigation of UV Absorbers on Venus Using the 283 and 365 nm Phase Curves Obtained From Akatsuki

Abstract

The so-called unknown absorber in the clouds of Venus is an important absorber of solar energy, but its vertical distribution remains poorly quantified. We analyze the 283 and 365 nm phase curves of the disk-integrated albedo measured by Akatsuki. Based on our models, we find that the unknown absorber can exist either well mixed over the entire upper cloud or within a thin layer. The necessary condition to explain the 365 nm phase curve is that the unknown absorber must absorb efficiently within the cloud scale height immediately below the cloud top. Using this constraint, we attempt to extract the SO2 abundance from the 283 nm phase curve. However, we cannot disentangle the absorption by SO2 and by the unknown absorber. Considering previous SO2 abundance measurements at midinfrared wavelengths, the required absorption coefficient of the unknown absorber at 283 nm must be more than twice that at 365 nm.