Researchers from the NASA-funded European Space Agency's Venus Express mission have discovered a terrifying "electric wind" on Venus that is strong enough to wipe out oceans from its upper atmosphere.
The study posted in AGU Publications says that the existence of an "ambipolar" electric field is vital on every planet as it helps ions overcome gravity. However, in Venus' case, the electric field is five times stronger than Earth's ionesphere, resulting to the planet's loss of heavy ions including oxygen, waterforms and water species.
"It's amazing, shocking," Glyn Collinson from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center told Science Daily.
"We found that the electric wind, which people thought was just one small cog in a big machine, is in fact this big monster that's capable of sucking the water from Venus by itself."
Collinson further said that they did not expect Venus' electric wind to be so powerful that it has the ability to strip away oxygen, sucking it out from the atmosphere into space. "This is something that has to be on the checklist when we go looking for habitable planets around other stars," he added.
Known as the twin sister of Earth, Venus features the same physical characteristics of Earth in terms of size and gravity. Past researches have also revealed that waterforms such as oceans have once existed on Venus. However, the said planet's atmosphere is currently very hot at around 860 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scientists previously thought that the removal of oceans from Venus' atmosphere was due to light hydrogen escaping and oxidization of rocks. However, that is apparently not the case. On Venus, the electric field is so strong that it can speed up oxygen ions to escape the planet's gravity.
The reason behind the strong electric field on Venus is not yet known, but Collinson speculates that it might be due to the planet's closeness to the Sun.
This new information will help scientists understand other worlds in the solar system as well as identify possible habitable zones.
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