\u201cThanks to this research, we\u2019re now able to show that this cloud disruption is caused by the largest known hydraulic jump in the solar system,\u201d Takeshi Imamura, the study\u2019s first author and a planetary scientist at the University of Tokyo in Japan, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similar, but not really <\/p>\n In terms of size, mass, density, and volume, Venus bears an uncanny resemblance to Earth. But the similarities end there<\/a>. Notably, Venus\u2019 dense atmosphere and extreme temperatures make the planet exceptionally difficult to study, even with orbiters like Akatsuki<\/a>\u00a0observing safely from its orbital perch.<\/p>\n Of course, that hasn\u2019t deterred researchers from making use of every opportunity available to extract useful data from Venus. For instance, because Venus has such a thick cloud cover, it\u2019s an \u201cexcellent\u201d target for studying atmospheric patterns that wouldn\u2019t be as apparent where clouds are more sparse, like Earth, according to the statement.<\/p>\n A cloudy sandwich <\/p>\n According to the study, the Venusian atmosphere can be divided into three layers of sulfuric acid clouds. Massive winds called \u201csuperrotation\u201d circulate these clouds around the planet at blinding speeds, around 60 times faster than Venus\u2019s own rotation. These gusts also regulate the planet\u2019s radiative energy budget and atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, added the paper. For obvious reasons, the upper clouds were easier for Venus probes\u2014and therefore scientists\u2014to investigate, but the lower and middle layers proved difficult to study, Imamura explained.<\/p>\n There was only so much atmospheric models could explain, as Imamura discovered in 2016, when Akatsuki brought back<\/a> the first images of repeated, sweeping cloud waves propagating around Venus\u2019s atmosphere. \u201cWe identified the phenomena, but for years we couldn\u2019t understand it,\u201d Imamura said.<\/p>\n Previous investigations by ESA\u2019s Venus Express between 2006 and 2022 also confirmed<\/a> similar observations. What\u2019s more, a literature review indicated that this cloud feature has been recurrent on Venus since at least 1983<\/a>\u2014meaning that, for whatever reason, astronomers didn\u2019t or couldn\u2019t identify the cause behind this phenomenon.<\/p>\n The cosmic kitchen sink Imamura and colleagues tested the hypothesis that a gigantic hydraulic jump is causing this cloud wave. Hydraulic jumps are surprisingly mundane phenomena, even on Earth. In fact, you can observe one right at your kitchen sink. Let the water run, and you\u2019ll see that, as the water pillar hits the sink, it forms a smooth inner circle of shallow, fast water, with ripples of deeper, slower water at the fringes of the circle.<\/p>\n Something similar occurs on Venus when an eastward atmospheric wave in the lower-to-middle cloud region becomes unstable. This \u201cshock,\u201d as the team puts it in the paper, forces air to rise sharply along a front. That sudden movement carries sulfuric acid vapor higher and higher until it eventually condenses into clouds that encircle the entire planet. The team\u2019s numerical simulation also suggested that similar processes help maintain the superrotation of Venus\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n Beyond our planet\u2019s twin <\/p>\n Aside from resolving a decades-long mystery, the findings could inform planning for future space missions\u2014not just to Venus, the team said. For instance, recent research confirmed that superrotation occurs on Mars<\/a>, the Sun, and even Earth\u2019s atmosphere<\/a>. This will be critical as humanity seeks to expand its presence in space, as accounting for weather conditions is vital for protecting astronauts and spacecraft. The research may be based on simulations, but every detail counts when we\u2019re exploring the unknown.<\/p>\n \u201cOur next step will be to test this discovery within a more inclusive climate model that includes other atmospheric processes,\u201d Imamura said. \u201cUnder some circumstances, Mars\u2019 atmosphere may also have the right conditions for a hydraulic jump.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2016, a Japanese Venus orbiter repeatedly spotted colossal waves of acidic clouds sweeping the planet\u2019s atmosphere. For…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3725,90,416,56,54,55,1816],"class_list":["post-578504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-planetary-science","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-venus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hydraulic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hydraulic-jump-kitchen-sink-310x336.jpg\")
In this image, the clearly defined hydraulic jump can be seen in the difference between the smooth inner circle of shallow and fast water and the ripples of deeper, slower water beyond. Credit: Takeshi Imamura\/University of Tokyo <\/p>\n