According to one model, Venus would not have had an ocean

In paper, we can take Earth and Venus as telescopes: almost the same size, the orbits around the sun are very similar … However, rarely do we see different sisters, Eden and Gehenna. Our planet has its mild temperature, oxygen in its atmosphere, plenty of water and a whole host of creatures, while Venus triggers hell near the sun: excess atmospheric pressure, which is a hot liquid like lead, carbon dioxide-filled air and no trace of life or water on its surface. However, for once, planetary researchers have long imagined that the story began well. Just as on Earth, before the white ocean evaporated, plenty of water flowed over the white star, nicknamed the “Shepherd Star,” before a terrible greenhouse effect occurred. A study published on Thursday, October 14th Natural This situation is contradicted by the conclusion that Venus probably never saw the ocean.

The French and Swiss authors of this article underline that all previous work on Paleo-Venus began with the idea that the water molecules that initially existed in the atmosphere accumulated and formed the oceans. Without asking the question of whether this hypothetical flood would have happened one day. The fault of the specimens is not mature enough to determine it. In addition, these models had one dimension: we were only reading air columns. Study published in Natural Using a three-dimensional model, it was developed for decades at the Dynamic Meteorological Laboratory in France to simulate the Earth’s climate.

“Physical equations are universal enough that, with some adaptations, this model can be applied to all planets. Says Martin Turbet, a young French postgraduate researcher at the University of Geneva and the first author of the study. Plus, compared to one-dimensional models, we can see the dynamic rotation in the atmosphere and the formation of clouds. ” In fact the key to the problem lies in that.

Flight into space

The atmosphere of young Venus is filled with water, a molecule that absorbs solar energy well. “The sun warmed the upper atmosphere very strongly during the day and prevented water from accumulating”, Martin Turbert explains. Clouds therefore prefer the night zone, the stratosphere. These high clouds acted as a lid, preventing the cooling of the atmosphere by the greenhouse effect, which would open the floodgates to heavy rains. Over time, H molecules₂The Os of the atmosphere eventually broke down and their hydrogen atoms leaked into space. The end result is that Venus is dry and not “habitable” as astronomers understand it: very close to our star and with high temperatures, the planet does not know water in liquid form at its best. In which water “It is considered to be the most important ingredient in the creation of living things as it is understood on earth”, Rafael Martin Turpet.

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