Towards a general classification of atmospheric waves on Venus

The atmospheric superrotation of Venus goes on being a puzzling phenomenon in the Solar system and is still considered an open problem in geophysicalfluid dynamics. A general agreement exists among numerous works concerning the main role that atmospheric waves should have in the generation and maintenance of the superrotation, although most of them try to study the impact of the waves with complex GCMs or using adapted terrestrial dispersion relations by considering frames fixed to the winds. In this work we derive, for the first time, the dispersion relations for a wide variety of possible atmospheric waves in Venus. Great similarities are found for small-scale and mesoscale waves in comparison with the Earth; the global-scale waves, however, exhibit significant differences, and a new type of global-scale wave whose restoration force is the centrifugal force is predicted by our equations, which has been confirmed by observations.