A Japanese space craft spotted a massive Venus wave. Though this is not the first time that a gravitational wave was seen in the atmosphere of Venus, it is the largest among the records. It stretches just over 6,000 miles from end to end. Its feature also suggests that the motion of Venus atmosphere is more complex than previously thought.
An atmospheric gravity wave is a ripple in the density of a planet's atmosphere. This is also present in the Earth's atmosphere, it causes interference in weather and turbulence. European Space Agency's Venus Express spotted several before the end of its mission in 2014. While Akatsuki has spotted several smaller structures with its infrared cameras in April and May 2016.
Akatsuki then spotted this huge Venus wave, then lost sight after the Akatsuki change orbit. When the Akatsuki managed to go back to observe the bow shape structure on January 15, 2016 the bright wave has vanished. The difference of this Venus wave from the ones observed before is that it appeared to be stationary above a mountainous region on the planet's surface, despite the background atmospheric winds.
According to The Verge, the 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. However, it was not clear how the Venus wave was created. Venus' upper atmosphere is believed that clouds rotate faster than the planets itself.
The clouds in Venus atmosphere rotate in four days while the planet itself rotates 243 days. The massive gravity wave might mean that the atmospheric conditions closer to the planet's surface are more variable than predicted. According to the BBC, Dr Wilson was a part of the European Space Agency's Venus Express mission, which ended in December 2014. During the end of the mission spacecraft detected tantalizing potential evidence for present-day volcanism on Earth's neighbour.
