Active volcanism on Venus? Jess Brennan

Earth vs. Venus From a far Venus seem very similar to Earth (Size, Composition, Closeness to the sun, Density) But when looked at up close Venus has… Much higher surface pressure (90x Earth) Much higher surface temperature (470C) Much thicker atmosphere Only one global lithospheric plate Same size/Density, Have crust, mantle, core , Similar orbit to earth's , Thick atmosphere clouds, relatively young surface

Volcanoes on Venus Over 1,600 major volcanoes and volcanic features But are any of them currently active? Ganiki Chasma rift zone Rifts, mantle plumes ect because of single plate. No subduction zones

The Research Scientists compared infrared radiation images of Venus over a span of time Found four areas of interest within the Ganiki Chasma rift zone that could be linked to volcanic activity on Venus

The Images Taken by the one of the four spectral cameras on the Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) which is centered at 1.01µm Variations in brightness are due to surface temperature or surface emissivity microns

Are the Bright Spots From the Surface Temperature or Emissivity? These bright spots are due to surface temperature. Variation in surface emissivity cannot exceed that of the ideal black body Stefan-Boltzman law stefan-boltzmann law

Could These Changes be Due to Volcanic Activity? They did not move in surface coordinates Brighter that the limit imposed by emissivity variation Changes appeared and disappeared

Estimated hotspots Very similar to eruptive activity on Earth These hotspots are likely to have effusive like eruptions due to conditions on Venus

So is there Active Volcanism on Venus?