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Science 13 September 1968:
Vol. 161. no. 3846, pp. 1125 - 1127
DOI: 10.1126/science.161.3846.1125
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Articles

Venus: Implications from Microwave Spectroscopy of the Atmospheric Content of Water Vapor

J. B. Pollack 1 and A. T. Wood Jr. 2

1 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
2 Harvard College Observatory

From comparison of theoretical and observed microwave brightness temperatures of Venus at 1.35 centimeters, the center of a water-vapor line, we obtain an upper limit of 0.8 percent for the water-vapor mixing ratio in the lower atmosphere. This limit is consistent with the amount of water vapor detected by Venera 4, the existence of aqueous ice clouds, and a greenhouse effect caused by water vapor and carbon dioxide. The computed spectra suggest that a sensitive procedure for detection of water vapor is examination of the wavelength region between I and 1.4 centimeters.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Venus: Absence of a Phase Effect at a 2-Centimeter Wavelength.
D. Morrison and D. Morrison (1969)
Science 163, 815-817
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