Idealized numerical experiments on microscale eddies in the Venusian cloud layer

Three-dimensional microscale dynamics of convective adjustment and mixing in and around the Venusian lower cloud layer were investigated using an idealized Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. As control parameters of the idealized experiment, the present work introduces an initial lapse rate in the convective layer and thermal flux associated with the infrared flux gap at cloud base. Eddy heat, material, and momentum fluxes increase in the convective layer with the increase of these two parameters. In the case of convective adjustment over a very short period, prior to formation of a large-scale convective cell, transient microscale eddies efficiently and rapidly eliminate the convective instability. In the case of convective mixing induced by cloud-based thermal flux, microscale eddies are induced around a thin unstable layer at the cloud base, and spread to the middle and upper parts of the neutral layer. For atmospheric static stability around 55 km, two types of fine structure are found: a wave-like profile induced by weak microscale eddies, and a profile locally enhanced by strong eddies.