Venus has a volcano that is active. The earth is still alive.

 

Maat Mons is displayed in this computer generated three-dimensional perspective of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 393 miles (634 kilometers) north of Maat Mons at an elevation of 2 miles (3 km) above the terrain. Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the foreground, to the base of Maat Mons.  (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Volcanic activity has been detected on Venus, according to researchers looking at data returned to Earth by NASA's Magellan probe in the early 1990s. The finding was made public in a paper released on March 15 and is based on modifications to a vent close to Maat Mons, one of the planet's largest volcanoes.

 

"Where we made the discovery is the most likely place that there should have been new volcanism," Robert Herrick, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, said Wednesday (March 15) at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) being held in Texas and virtually.

Lava flows from Venusian volcanoes that exploded a few million years ago have long been known to scientists. Although nearly a million smaller volcanoes and 1,600 main ones make up the majority of the planet's surface, it is debatable whether any of them still erupt.

 

The most recent discovery is the first time that researchers have discovered concrete proof of recent volcanic activity on Venus, Earth's nearest neighbor. They believe that such eruptions, which are less violent than those on Earth, take place at least a few times annually, adding to the mounting proof that volcanoes are a significant factor in forming the planet's young surface.

In the most recent investigation, researchers examined two Magellan photographs taken in 1991 eight months apart. They observed that during those eight months, a volcanic vent that had previously been 0.7 square miles (2 square kilometers) in size had increased "considerably," to approximately 1.5 square miles. (4 square km).

In the second picture, the vent was kidney-shaped with a dark interior, as opposed to the first image's circular form. This is proof that "a volcano has erupted on the surface of Venus," as Herrick stated during his presentation at LPSC. According to him, the dark area is probably a lava lake that has filled the outlet to the rim.

 

With the scant information available, the team makes the assumption that Venus' intense heat and high pressure cause the lava to flow longer on Venus than it does on Earth.

There are likely many more active volcanoes yet to be found since Venus is largely covered with them. After making the find, Herrick said he stopped looking, but "by no means has all the potential searching for new stuff with the Magellan data been done."

 

Only 1.5% of the planet is covered by the most recent research, but 40% has been imaged twice by the Magellan spacecraft, providing scientists with a wealth of radar data to sort through.

 

There is still much to be done there, according to Herrick, as there are still a number of Hawaii-like volcanoes on Venus that I did not have time to explore.

Altitude data for the Maat and Ozza Mons region on the Venus surface is shown at left, with the area of study indicated by the black box. At right are the before (A) and after (B) Magellan observations of the expanded vent on Maat Mons, with possible new lava flows after an eruptive event. (Image credit: Altitude data for the Maat and Ozza Mons region on the Venus surface is shown at left, with the area of study indicated by the black box. At right are the before (A) and after (B) Magellan observations of the expanded vent on Maat Mons, with possible new lava flows after an eruptive event.)

A discovery from 30-year old data

in 1990, the Magellan probe reached Venus and spent two years taking pictures from orbit. The spacecraft made eight-monthly returns to the same locations during this period. The images were taken at varying angles and heights back then because the goal of each visit was not to detect surface changes like scientists are doing now, according to Herrick. He added that it's possible to imagine both of the discovery's pictures as having been taken from windows on various airplane sides.

Herrick attributed the timing of this finding to recent advancements in planetary scientists' software and hardware, despite the fact that the Magellan images are 30 years old. Scientists can now quickly download huge datasets and zoom in and out of radar images, which they were unable to do thirty years ago, much like Google Earth.

 

Herrick and his team chose specific locations on the surface of Venus that stayed the same in both of Magellan's images because the images were taken at different angles, and they processed the images to make them appear as though they were taken from above. Scientists use a technique called orthorectification to transform unprocessed pictures into a modeling-friendly format.

During his presentation at LPSC, Herrick stated, "We really wanted to nail down that the difference we saw in the vent could not conceivably, in any way, be a factor of merely looking at the same feature from different angles.

Herrick collaborated with Scott Hensley, a project scientist for two future NASA missions to Venus, to determine whether what they were seeing was actually volcanic activity.

 

Hensley remarked, "I was immediately cautiously optimistic and excited because it did look real, but it did not look real," adding that earlier attempts to find comparable changes in the images had not produced fruitful outcomes. In addition, because of variations in lighting and spacecraft angles, many characteristics on Venus that did not change appeared different in distinct Magellan images.

 

Hensley stated, "We wanted to be very careful here that we really had something."

None of our simulations could reproduce the kidney-shaped vent, he claimed, adding that their simulations also failed to depict the vent's entire dark bottom as observed by Magellan. We had a real change on the surface of Venus because of this, we firmly believe.

 

 Reference: Space.com