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arXiv · 2610.36979

The impact of the sulfur allotropes and sulfur hydrides on the Venus cloud chemistry

Maxence Lefèvre·Franck Lefèvre·Anni Määttänen·Robert Skog·Benjamin Frandsen·Aurélien Stolzenbach·Ashwin Braude
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Abstract

Venus is home to vivid sulfur chemistry, with SO$_2$ as the major sulfur gas species and a global cloud layer between 47 and~70 km composed of H$_2$SO$_4$ and H$_2$O. The chemistry in the clouds has been extensively studied with 1D models, but none is able to reproduce the three orders of magnitude decrease of SO$_2$ inside the clouds. Sulfur allotrope chemistry could be a candidate for buffering sulfur atoms, as it can grow into long chains. Sulfur hydrides such as H$_2$S is considered as one of the main sulfur-bearing compounds, possibly linked to surface reactions or have a volcanic origin like on Earth. In this study, we use for the first time a 3D model to study the climatology of the sulfur allotrope in gas and condensed phase and hydride chemistry in the clouds with an explicit photolysis calculation and updated UV cross-section. H$_2$S is close to ppmv levels below the cloud base, the third most abundant sulfur-bearing species in this region after SO$_2$ and OCS. Below the clouds, S$_8$ gas phase is the most abundant sulfur allotrope. Above, the photolysis and condensation are preponderant, and the gas phase decreases to extremely low values. Polysulfur can therefore not be the unknown absorber at cloud-top altitudes. The condensed phase polysulfurs are present from 30 to above 100~km. S$_2$ condensed phase is the most abundant due to its low saturation mixing ratios. Polysulfur species represent a substantial sulfur reservoir in the upper cloud, equivalent to a few ppmv.

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Maxence Lefèvre, Franck Lefèvre, Anni Määttänen, Robert Skog, Benjamin Frandsen, Aurélien Stolzenbach, Ashwin Braude. 2026-10-27. The impact of the sulfur allotropes and sulfur hydrides on the Venus cloud chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025je009523

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