Detecting atmospheric perturbations produced by Venus quakes -: art. no. L16205

The possibility to detect seismic activity on Venus by using the mechanical coupling of the solid-atmosphere system is investigated. First, the atmospheric attenuation of infrasonic waves produced by quakes is theoretically determined from a pure CO2 atmospheric model, demonstrating that frequencies below 0.1 Hz are amplified by a factor of 10 000 above 120 km altitude. With a simple quake model, an upper limit of infrasonic adiabatic temperature and density perturbations above the source is estimated. Then, we demonstrate that the temperature increase due to high altitude acoustic energy dissipation above a quake is large enough to be measured by remote sensing methods. Finally, the expected post-seismic effects are analyzed in the framework of the VIRTIS instrument on board the ESA Venus Express mission.