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Response of Earth's Atmosphere to Increases in Solar Flux and Implications for Loss of Water from VenusA one dimensional radiative convective model is used to compute temperature and water vapor profiles as functions of solar flux for earthlike atmosphere. The troposphere is assumed to be fully saturated with a moist adiabatic lapse rate, and changes in cloudiness are neglected. Predicted surface temperatures increase monotonically from -1 to 111 C as the solar flux is increased from 0.81 to 1.45 times its present value. The results imply that the surface temperature of a primitive water rich Venus should have been at least 80-100 C and may have been much higher, water vapor should have been a major atmospheric constituent at all altitudes, leading to the rapid hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen. The oxygen left behind by this process was presumably consumed by reactions with reduced minerals in the crust.
Document ID
19850015207
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other
Authors
Kasting, J. F.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Pollock, J. G.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Ackerman, T. P.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1985
Publication Information
Publication: NASA, Washington Repts. of Planetary Geol. and Geophys. Program, 1984
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
85N23518
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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