Prediction Of Sulphate Hazes In The Lower Venus Atmosphere

We study the amount, size distribution and material composition of (sub-)mic aerosol particles in the lower Venus atmosphere < 50 km.

Our GGchem phase-equilibrium model predicts metal-chloride and metal-fluoride molecules to be present in the gas over the Venus surface in trace concentrations < 2.E-12, in particular FeCl₂, NaCl, KCl and SiF₄.

Using an improved version of the DiffuDrift model developed by Woitke et al. 2020, we find that these molecules deposit to form solid potassium sulphate K₂SO₄, sodium sulphate Na₂SO₄, and pyrite FeS₂ above about 15.5 km, 9.5 km and 2.4 km, respectively.

These heights coincide well with the three potential haze layers found in the Pioneer Venus Large Probe neutral mass spectrometer data by Mogul et al.2023. The particles with radius < 0.3 mic can be dredged up from the ground to reach the sulphuric acid cloud base from below by diffusion.

The particle density decreases from ~ 5000/cm³ at ground level to ~100/cm³ at a height of 45 km. Particles larger than about 1 mic are found to stay confined to the ground < 10 km, indicating that the larger, so-called mode 3 particles, if they exist, cannot originate from the surface. All particles are expected to be coated by a thin layer of FeS₂, Na₂SO₄ and K₂SO₄.

We have included the repelling effect of particle charges on the coagulation, without which the model would predict much too steep gradients close to the surface, which is inconsistent with measured opacity data. Our models suggest that the particles must have at least 100 negative charges per micron of particle radius at ground level, and > 50/mic at a height of 45 km.

Peter Woitke, Manuel Scherf, Christiane Helling, Paul B. Rimmer, Martin Ferus, Helmut Lammer, Fabian Weichbold, Kateřina Němečková, Petr Eminger, Jaroslav Kačina, Tereza Constantinou

Comments: 18 pages, accepted by PSJ on 27-Aug-2025
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2508.20790 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2508.20790v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.20790
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Submission history
From: Peter Woitke
[v1] Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:54:19 UTC (2,457 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.20790
Astrobiology