Editing Richard Lindzen (section)

===Superrotation of Venus===
Since the 1960s a puzzling phenomenon has been observed in the atmosphere of Venus. The atmosphere above the cloud base is seen to travel around the planet about 50 times faster than the rotation of the planet surface, or in only four to five Earth-days.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/project/virtis/venus-super.html | last1 = Taylor | first1 = FW | first2 = CCC | last2 = Tsang |title= Venus super-rotation |date=February 2005 | access-date=2009-03-29 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070706210100/http://www.atm.ox.ac.uk/project/virtis/venus-super.html |archive-date = July 6, 2007}}</ref> In 1974 a theory was proposed by [[Stephen B. Fels]] and Lindzen to explain this so-called "[[atmospheric super-rotation|superrotation]]" which held that the rotation is driven by the thermal atmospheric tide.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://eaps.mit.edu/faculty/lindzen/60_Interac.pdf | last1 = Fels | first1 = SB | first2 = Richard S | last2 = Lindzen | year = 1974 | title = Interaction of thermally excited gravity waves with mean flows | journal = Geophys. Fluid Dyn. | volume = 6 | pages = 149–91 | doi = 10.1080/03091927409365793 | bibcode = 1974GeoFD...6..149F | issue = 2 | access-date = March 25, 2010 | archive-date = May 22, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130522095444/http://eaps.mit.edu/faculty/lindzen/60_Interac.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> An alternative theory was proposed by [[Peter J. Gierasch]] in the following year which held instead that the meridional (Hadley) circulation may transport the momentum by eddy-mixing.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://ams.allenpress.com/archive/1520-0469/32/6/pdf/i1520-0469-32-6-1038.pdf |last=Gierasch |first=PJ |year=1975 |title=Meridional circulation and the maintenance of the Venus atmospheric rotation |journal=J. Atmos. Sci. |volume=32 |pages=1038–44 |doi=10.1175/1520-0469(1975)032<1038:MCATMO>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=1975JAtS...32.1038G |issue=6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20100325184936/http://ams.allenpress.com/archive/1520-0469/32/6/pdf/i1520-0469-32-6-1038.pdf |archive-date=March 25, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> As of 2005, the actual cause of this phenomenon continued to be debated in the literature, with [[General Circulation Model]] experiments suggesting that both the Fels/Lindzen and Gierasch mechanisms are involved.<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://www.bu.edu/csp/uv/cp-aeronomy/Zhu_2005.pdf | last = Zhu | first = X | title = Maintenance of Equatorial Superrotation in a Planetary Atmosphere: Analytic Evaluation of the Zonal Momentum Budgets for the Stratospheres of Venus, Titan and Earth | year = 2005 | journal = SR SR A-2005-01, JHU /APL, Laurel, MD | access-date = March 25, 2010 | archive-date = March 3, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235221/http://www.bu.edu/csp/uv/cp-aeronomy/Zhu_2005.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>