Seismo-acoustic coupling in the deep atmosphere of Venus

Abstract

The extreme conditions at the surface of Venus pose a challenge for monitoring the planet's seismic activity using long-duration landed probes. One alternative is using balloon-based sensors to detect venusquakes from the atmosphere. This study aims to assess the efficiency with which seismic motion is coupled as atmospheric acoustic waves across Venus's surface. It is, therefore, restricted to the immediate neighborhood of the crust-atmosphere interface. In order to account for supercritical conditions near the surface, the Peng-Robinson equation of state is used to obtain the acoustic sound speed and attenuation coefficient in the lower atmosphere. The energy transported across the surface from deep and shallow sources is shown to be a few orders of magnitude larger than on Earth, pointing to a better seismo-acoustic coupling. For a more realistic scenario, simulations were made of the acoustic field generated in the lower atmosphere by the ground motion arising from a vertical array of subsurface point-force sources. The resulting transmission loss maps show a strong epicentral cone accompanied by contributions from leaky surface waves. Results at 0.1 Hz and 1 Hz confirm that the width of the epicentral cone is larger at lower frequencies.