The upper haze (UH) of Venus is variable on the order of days and it is
populated by two particle modes. We use a 1D microphysics and vertical
transport model based on the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for
Atmospheres to evaluate whether interaction of upwelled cloud particles and
sulfuric acid particles nucleated in situ on meteoric dust are able to generate
the two size modes and whether their observed variability are due to cloud top
vertical transient winds. Nucleation of photochemically produced sulfuric acid
onto polysulfur condensation nuclei generates mode 1 cloud droplets that then
diffuse upwards into the UH. Droplets generated in the UH from nucleation of
sulfuric acid onto meteoric dust coagulate with the upwelled cloud particles
and cannot reproduce the observed bimodal size distribution. The mass transport
enabled by cloud top transient winds are able to generate a bimodal size
distribution in a time scale consistent with observations. Sedimentation and
convection in the middle and lower clouds causes the formation of large mode 2
and mode 3 particles. Evaporation of these particles below the clouds creates a
local sulfuric acid vapor maximum that causes upwelling of sulfuric acid back
into the clouds. If the polysulfur condensation nuclei are small and their
production rate is high, coagulation of small droplets onto larger droplets in
the middle cloud may result in sulfuric acid "rain" below the clouds once every
few Earth months. Reduction of the polysulfur condensation nuclei production
rate destroys this oscillation and reduces the mode 1 particle abundance in the
middle cloud by two orders of magnitude, though it better reproduces the
sulfur-to-sulfuric-acid mass ratio in the cloud and haze droplets. In general
we find satisfactory agreement between our results and observations, though
improvements could be made by incorporating sulfur microphysics.Comment: 62 pages, 18 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Icaru
