Venus cloud microphysics

Abstract

Because sulfuric acid does not wet sulfur, composite drops in the atmosphere of Venus cannot have sulfur 'cores', but must instead have sulfur coats. Both components then communicate with the vapor phase. Drops that are fully coated with sulfur are immune to coalescence; this sets a limit to growth that may explain 'Mode 3' particles. The sulfur coating is probably responsible for the anomalously low refractive indices derived from entry-probe nephelometer data. There appears to be about an order of magnitude less elemental sulfur than sulfuric acid in the clouds.