As a meteorologist on the Venus project team, you are asked to draw weather maps

Question

As a meteorologist on the Venus project team, you are asked to draw weather maps for the Venusian atmosphere. In order to get an idea of what your data requirements are, you want to estimate the height of the Venusian equivalent of the terrestrial 500 hPa level. If the atmosphere is primarily CO_2, estimate Rd for Venus. Then use the hypsometric relation to find the typical height of the Venusian equivalent of the terrestrial 500 hPa. Assume the average temperature is 450 C, and g_venus is 8.92 (m/s^2).

Explanation / Answer

Venus atmosphere contains around 95% CO2 and 5% N2 .

So the molecular mass of Venus's atmosphere is
95/100*(12 + 32) + 5/100*(28) = 43.2 =0.0432 kg

The universal gas is 8.314 J per (mole Kelvin); then the gas constant of venus becomes

8.314/0.0432 = 192.5 J/ (kg K)

Thickness, Z= RTs/g*ln Ps/P

Venus surface pressure is almost equal to 90 earth's surface pressure =90bar = 91192.5mb =9.119x104Hpa

Pressure at surface level =Ps = 9.119x104Hpa

Pressure at a height of Z = 500HPa earth atmospheric pressure = 90* 500HPa =45000HPa

Ts = 450C =450+273 =723 K

So, Z= R*Ts/g*ln(Ps/P)

(192.5* 723/8.92)*ln(9.119x104/45000) = 11020.03 m

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