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There\u2019s a lot we don\u2019t know about the planet nearest to us. Venus is shrouded in clouds, making speculation about what\u2019s happening on its surface a parlor game for many planetary scientists for decades. But one idea that always seems to come up in those conversations \u2013 volcanoes. It\u2019s clear that Venus has plenty of volcanoes \u2013 estimates center around about 85,000 of them in total. However, science is still unclear as to whether there is any active volcanism on Venus or not. A new set of missions to the planet will hopefully shed some light on the topic \u2013 and a new paper from researchers from Europe looks at how we might use information from those missions to do so.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The authors break the question of whether there is active volcanism on Venus into two distinct approaches. First, can Venus maintain its current atmospheric composition without adding gases from volcanic sources? Second, is there any evidence for \u201ctransient\u201d effects that would only be possible if active volcanoes existed?\u00a0<\/p>\n Let\u2019s explore the first approach first. One major data point to consider with this approach is the variability of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere over periods as long as decades. Some researchers have pointed to this variability as clear evidence of volcanism. Still, some take a more nuanced view and point out that the variability could be caused by unknown surface-atmosphere interactions or even interactions between two layers of the atmosphere itself.<\/p>\n \n