Vertical propagation of planetary-scale waves in variable background winds in the upper cloud region of Venus

Recently it was found that the low-latitude zonal wind and the amplitudes of Kelvin and Rossby waves at the cloud top of Venus show long-term variations in a synchronized manner. For the purpose of explaining this synchronization, we investigated the influence of the background zonal wind profile on the upward propagation of Kelvin and Rossby waves at altitudes 60-80 km. Results from a linearized primitive equation model suggests that Kelvin waves can reach the cloud top height when the background wind speed is slow, whereas Rossby waves can reach the cloud top when the background wind speed is fast. These features obtained from the model are consistent with the observations. Since the momentum deposition by these waves can accelerate or decelerate the mean flow, these waves may contribute to the variation of the background wind. The calculated spatial distributions of the momentum dissipation indicate that the Kelvin waves accelerate the low-latitude atmosphere, and thus they can act to induce transition from the slow wind period to the fast wind period. On the other hand, the Rossby waves decelerate mainly the mid-latitude atmosphere, so that additional mechanisms are required to decelerate the low-latitude atmosphere. A possible mechanism is momentum advection caused by the Rossby wave-induced meridional circulation.