Centro de Astronomia e Astrofísica da Universidade de Lisboa, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, 1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal.
Science. 2011 Apr 29;332(6029):577-80. doi: 10.1126/science.1201629. Epub 2011 Apr 7.
Initial images of Venus's south pole by the Venus Express mission have shown the presence of a bright, highly variable vortex, similar to that at the planet's north pole. Using high-resolution infrared measurements of polar winds from the Venus Express Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument, we show the vortex to have a constantly varying internal structure, with a center of rotation displaced from the geographic south pole by ~3 degrees of latitude and that drifts around the pole with a period of 5 to 10 Earth days. This is indicative of a nonsymmetric and varying precession of the polar atmospheric circulation with respect to the planetary axis.
金星快车任务拍摄的金星南极初始图像显示，存在一个明亮、高度可变的漩涡，类似于金星北极的漩涡。利用金星快车可见和红外热成像光谱仪（VIRTIS）仪器对极地风的高分辨率红外测量，我们发现该漩涡的内部结构不断变化，其旋转中心相对于地理南极偏移约 3 度，并且以 5 到 10 个地球日为周期在极点周围漂移。这表明极地大气环流相对于行星轴的进动是非对称且变化的。
