Science. 1990 Sep 14;249(4974):1273-5. doi: 10.1126/science.249.4974.1273.
Several lines of evidence concerning the vertical abundance profile of water in the atmosphere of Venus lead to strikingly unusual distributions (the water vapor abundance decreases sharply in the immediately vicinity of the surface) or to serious conflicts in the profiles (different infrared bands suggest water abundances that are discrepant by a factor of 2.5 to 10). These data sets can be reconciled if (i) water molecules associate with carbon dioxide and sulfur trioxide to make gaseous carbonic acid and sulfuric acid in the lower atmosphere, and (ii) the discrepant 0.94-micrometer water measurements are due to gaseous sulfuric acid, requiring it to be a somewhat stronger absorber than water vapor inthis wavelength region. A mean total water abundance of 50 +/- 20 parts per million and a near-surface free water vapor abundance of 10 +/- 4 parts per million are derived.
有几条关于金星大气中水汽垂直丰度分布的证据表明，金星大气中的水汽垂直分布存在显著的异常（在接近表面的地方水汽丰度急剧下降），或者在垂直分布上存在严重的冲突（不同的红外波段表明水汽丰度相差 2.5 到 10 倍）。如果（i）水分子与二氧化碳和三氧化硫结合，在低层大气中形成碳酸和硫酸气体，以及（ii）有分歧的 0.94 微米水汽测量结果是由于硫酸气体，需要它在这个波长区域比水汽有更强的吸收性，那么这些数据集就可以得到协调。得出的平均总水汽丰度为 50 ± 20 ppm，近地表游离水汽丰度为 10 ± 4 ppm。
