a) Venus is a wonderfully bright morning “star” during parts of the year for us – it is the high albedo that makes it appear so bright and visible even at dawn.  Explain why even though Venus has an albedo that is nearly twice as high as Earth's its average surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead. What appears to be controlling the climate on Venus? B) Venus does not have plate tectonics like the earth but it does seem to go through periods of intense volcanic activity at a time scale of every 500 million years (we are not sure how or why this happens).  But it has been nearly 500 million years since the last major volcanic episode – if Venus were to begin to have a new volcanic episode what impact would this have on the Venusian climate?  Explain why it might be hard to predict if the climate would get even hotter or perhaps cool down.  Make sure to talk about both positive and negative climate feedbacks associated with volcanic activity.

a) Venus is a wonderfully bright morning “star” during parts of the year for us – it is the high albedo that makes it appear so bright and visible even at dawn.  Explain why even though Venus has an albedo that is nearly twice as high as Earth's its average surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead. What appears to be controlling the climate on Venus?

B) Venus does not have plate tectonics like the earth but it does seem to go through periods of intense volcanic activity at a time scale of every 500 million years (we are not sure how or why this happens).  But it has been nearly 500 million years since the last major volcanic episode – if Venus were to begin to have a new volcanic episode what impact would this have on the Venusian climate?  Explain why it might be hard to predict if the climate would get even hotter or perhaps cool down.  Make sure to talk about both positive and negative climate feedbacks associated with volcanic activity. Draw