arXiv subjects

Soumyaneal Banerjee

Publications and source records attributed to Soumyaneal Banerjee.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Study on the Venusian Atmospheric Thermal Structure: A Comparative Analysis between VEX/Akatsuki and Venus-GRAM/VCD

We investigate the thermal structure of the Venusian middle atmosphere between 45 and 80 km using radio occultation (RO) measurements from Venus Express and Akatsuki spanning 2006-2024. Retrieved temperature profiles are compared with climatological predictions from the Venus-GRAM and the Venus Climate Database (VCD). Systematic deviations exceeding 10 K are observed between the RO temperatures and model climatologies, particularly at high latitudes in both hemispheres. The long-term dataset further reveals a possible decadal-scale temporal variability in temperatures across the low-to-mid latitude regions. This variability becomes less coherent at higher altitudes. A combination of post-stratification and bootstrap analysis on the temperature anomalies indicates that the observed temporal variability at low-to-mid and polar latitudes is not readily explained by the latitudinal sampling bias quantified using the adopted analysis, while the trends at mid-to-high latitudes are affected by sparse and uneven RO sounding. Sensitivity tests using modified cloud albedo inputs in VCD simulations show that adjusting cloud radiative forcing partially reconciles the discrepancies, especially at the lower altitudes, below 60 km. However, above the cloud top, at the lower latitudes, the divergence from the observations increases significantly, thereby failing to provide a general reconciliation between VCD and RO. These results highlight the need for updated empirical climatologies incorporating recent RO measurements and for improved physical parameterizations in Venus general circulation models to better capture the global variability in the planet's middle atmosphere.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2026

A study on the contribution of the interplanetary medium in radio occultation experiments

Irregularities in electron density within the interplanetary medium (IPM) can cause fluctuations in the Doppler frequency of spacecraft radio signals. The amplitude of these fluctuations depends on factors such as the carrier frequency, propagation geometry, and link configuration. However, quantitative characterization of these effects across different frequencies in various occultation experiments is currently limited. We analyze five complementary datasets: two-way S-band observations from Chandrayaan-3 outside the lunar ionosphere, two-way S-band data from Chandrayaan-2 during lunar occultation, one-way S/X band measurements from the Venus Express Radio Science (VeRa)/Akatsuki Radio Science (Akatsuki) under IPM-only conditions, and one-way X-band Akatsuki data during solar occultation. The Chandrayaan-3 and Akatsuki IPM observations isolate IPM effects by excluding contributions from planetary atmospheres, the lunar ionosphere, and, except during solar occultation, the solar corona. Chandrayaan-3 data sample dynamically evolving Earth-Moon geometries and exhibit weak, mHz-level Doppler fluctuations, while Chandrayaan-2 observations provide near-lunar plasma benchmarks with higher amplitudes, during quiet time solar and geomagnetic conditions. Akatsuki and VeRa's IPM-only measurements capture long-path interplanetary effects, whereas Akatsuki solar occultation data reveal strong coronal signatures. Power spectral density analysis indicates Kolmogorov-like turbulence for lunar occultation and solar occultation cases, while IPM-only spectra show low-amplitude fluctuations. These results quantify the IPM contribution to Doppler noise, demonstrate the enhanced plasma sensitivity of two-way coherent links, and provide constraints relevant to turbulence modelling, precision spacecraft tracking, and the interpretation of radio occultation experiments.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2026

A turbulence index independent framework for deriving solar wind speed and coronal electron density from radio spectral broadening

We present a turbulence index independent framework for simultaneously deriving solar wind velocity and coronal electron density in the near-Sun region using the spectral broadening of spacecraft radio signals. The formulation accommodates arbitrary turbulence spectral indices ($p$), providing a direct analytical link between the observed Doppler spectra and underlying plasma parameters without assuming a fixed turbulence regime. This generalization extends conventional radio occultation techniques and enables consistent interpretation across multiple radio frequencies. We apply the method to X-band ($\sim$ 8.41 GHz) radio occultation measurements from JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft during the 2016 and 2022 Venus - Earth superior conjunctions, spanning heliocentric distances of 1.4 - 10 $R_{\odot}$ and sampling both equatorial streamer regions and mid-latitude coronal holes. The retrieved electron densities exhibit systematic trends consistent with empirical coronal models and in-situ observations. By coupling the measured spectral widths with a turbulence-based frequency-scaling relation, we obtain a compact expression that links spectral broadening, solar wind speed, and electron density, applicable for any turbulence index $p$. Fast-solar-wind intervals, characterized by nearly isotropic turbulence, yield speed estimates in close agreement with expectations, while the anisotropic nature of the slow solar wind introduces small but systematic deviations. Our results refine earlier work and demonstrate that explicit consideration of near-coronal turbulence anisotropy is essential for accurate solar-wind parameter retrievals.

astro-ph.SR↗