Volcanic activity on Venus spotted in radar images, scientists say – South Carolina Public Radio

Using radar imagery, scientists have detected signs of volcanic activity on Venus, the second planet from the sun, according to a study published this week in Nature Geoscience.

The images, taken by the European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft, which orbited the planet from 2006 to 2014, indicated a “recently formed flow of lava,” the researchers wrote.

The discovery which marks the first time active volcanism has been observed on Venus, according to the study’s authors, is evidence that the planet’s interior is still hot enough to generate magma.

“The new findings provide a glimpse of the dynamic nature of Venus and indicate that the planet is not a geologically dead world, despite its extremely hostile surface conditions,” lead author Laurence O’Rourke said in a statement.

The researchers analyzed radar images of Venus’ surface that were taken during more than a decade of the Venus Express mission. They identified a region in the planet’s northern hemisphere called Ganiki Chasma, which showed signs of recent lava flow.

The images revealed that the area is “likely a region of ongoing resurfacing by volcanic activity,” the study’s authors wrote.

The researchers noted that Venus is a “very different planet” than Earth, though they said the findings are similar to what scientists have observed on our own planet.

“The observation of active volcanism on Venus is a reminder that similar resurfacing processes have likely occurred on Earth in the past and may still be occurring,” the study’s authors wrote.

The detection of active volcanism on Venus, though a significant discovery, is not wholly unexpected, according to the researchers.

“We’ve known for a long time that Venus is geologically active,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve seen evidence of large-scale resurfacing from space, and radar data from Venus Express suggested that there should be relatively young lava flows on the surface of the planet.”

The team’s analysis of the images has provided further evidence for the presence of active volcanism on Venus.

“Our study is the first to provide an image of recently erupted lava on the surface of Venus,” O’Rourke said.

Utilizing radar imagery, a study published in Nature Geoscience this week has confirmed the presence of volcanic activity on Venus, the second planet from the sun. The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft, which orbited the planet from 2006 to 2014, took the images, indicating a “recently formed flow of lava,” the researchers noted. This newly-identified activity, which is the first of its kind to be observed on Venus, is evidence that the planet’s interior is still hot enough to generate magma.

The team analyzed radar images of Venus’ northern hemisphere, particularly the region called Ganiki Chasma, which displayed signs of recent lava flow. The researchers suggested that the area is “likely a region of ongoing resurfacing by volcanic activity,” and that the detection of active volcanism on Venus is analogous to what has been observed on Earth.

“We’ve seen evidence of large-scale resurfacing from space, and radar data from Venus Express suggested that there should be relatively young lava flows on the surface of the planet,” lead author Laurence O’Rourke elucidated. “Our study is the first to provide an image of recently erupted lava on the surface of Venus.”