Detecting Seismic Activity on Venus (IMAGE)
Caption
Seismic waves radiating from a Venus quake propagate as Rayleigh waves in the Venus surface layers and generate infrasonic waves traveling upwards through the dense Venus atmosphere. These low frequency sound waves can be detected by a balloon (upper left) floating within the Venus clouds at an altitude of 55 km where temperatures are similar to those on the Earth's surface. As the infrasonic waves penetrate the clouds and enter the upper atmosphere they produce thermal variations and molecular excitations. These signals can be viewed from space by infrared imaging sensors as an expanding pattern of concentric circles by on the orbiting spacecraft (upper right).
Credit
Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS)
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