Winds on Venus have always been fast. Hurricane speed fast. Most of them circle the fire hot planet over and over again at over 180 miles per hour.
But scientists lately are puzzled by what seems an incredible accelleration of the winds to speeds that top 400 km per hour, or 250 miles per hour.
A probe launched toward the planet by a Russian Space Research Institute, has been able to register the increasing speed over the past six years.
Some of the speed is due to the very high carbon dioxide composition of the Venusian atmosphere. The pressure there is 90 times what it is on Earth, and the temperature is a scorching 855 degrees Fahrenheit. What the scientists believe might be happening is a case of runaway global warming.
The highest speed of the winds are registered at high altitudes, about 45 miles from the surface, over the highly volcanic Venusian plains.
Another feature of the faster winds is their 'super-rotation", or their ability to travel dozens of time faster than the planet's own rate of revolution.
Venus' rotatory rate is very slow, about 243 Earth days just to complete a Venusian revolution of a single day.
For now, scientists are clueless as to this development or what it might engender on the hot planet. But the phenomenon could also give important clues in how warming of a planet affects both winds and ultimately its own atmospheric composition.
Source : Science daily / 6.20.13
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