Student Project - Diurnal variation of ozone in Venus' atmosphere
ANU Area(s)
RSPE
Research Fields:
Astrophysics
Atomic and Molecular Physics
Environmental Physics
Project Details
The oxygen chemistry in Venus' atmosphere has many aspects that remain unknown and/or unverified despite several decades of observational, laboratory, and theoretical work. Recent observations of airglow emission by the VIRTIS instrument on ESA's Venus Express determined the rate at which OH molecules, produced from the reaction of H and O3, decay from more excited states to less excited states on Venus' night side. Earlier ground-based spectroscopy of Venus' day side measured the intensity of airglow emission as excited molecular oxygen, produced from photodissociation of ozone, decays to the ground electronic state. Ozone abundances are expected to vary greatly from day to night and the time scales for these variations may be comparable to the transport times in Venus' upper atmosphere, so it is important to simulate the variation of ozone abundances throughout the daily cycle on Venus. This project will convert the existing one-dimensional global average photochemical model of Venus' atmosphere into a diurnal one-dimensional photochemical model, calculate the expected diurnal variation of ozone, and compare the simulations with relevant airglow observations.
Required Background
Second year courses in astronomy or earth science or physics, basic knowledge of chemistry, and some experience with programming (any language or type).
Project Suitability
This research project can be tailored to suit students of the following type(s): Honours, Vacation Scholars