Earth Sciences 1086F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Runaway Greenhouse Effect, Venus Express, Solar Wind
13 Jan 2020
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Document Summary
Often called morning or evening star because we only see it 3 hours before sunrise and 3 hours before sunset. The composition of the cloud layer is droplets pf liquid/solid sulfur and sulfuric acid. Main component of atmosphere is carbon dioxide (96. 5%) Begins with light energy from sun warming up planet, and ends with surface growth of heat. End result of strong greenhouse effects is very high temperature. There was quite a substantial amount of water on venus. Without an ozone layer to protect atmosphere from uv radiation, water was broken up and lost to space. As venus warmed, oceans evaporated and venus lost ability to cleanse its atmosphere, temperature rose further runaway greenhouse effect. All impact craters are medium to large. Venus has few craters of any size relative to moon, those we see appear to be young, rarely filled with lava formed after a recent major volcanic activity.
