From the discovery that Venus has an atmosphere during the 1761 transit by M. Lomonosov to the current exploration of the planet by the Akatsuki orbiter, we continue to learn about the planet’s extreme climate and weather. This chapter attempts to provide a comprehensive but by no means exhaustive review of the results of the atmospheric thermal structure and radiative balance since the earlier works published in Venus and Venus II books from recent spacecraft and Earth based investigations and summarizes the gaps in our current knowledge. There have been no in-situ measurements of the deep Venus atmosphere since the flights of the two VeGa balloons and landers in 1985 (Sagdeev et al., Science 231:1411–1414, 1986). Thus, most of the new information about the atmospheric thermal structure has come from different remote sensing (Earth based and spacecraft) techniques using occultations (solar infrared, stellar ultraviolet and orbiter radio occultations), spectroscopy and microwave, short wave and thermal infrared emissions. The results are restricted to altitudes higher than about 40 km, except for one investigation of the near surface static stability inferred by Meadows and Crisp (J. Geophys. Res. 101:4595–4622, 1996) from 1 μ$\upmu$m observations from Earth. Little information about the lower atmospheric structure is possible below about 40 km altitude from radio occultations due to large bending angles. The gaps in our knowledge include spectral albedo variations over time, vertical variation of the bulk composition of the atmosphere (mean molecular weight), the identity, properties and abundances of absorbers of incident solar radiation in the clouds. The causes of opacity variations in the nightside cloud cover and vertical gradients in the deep atmosphere bulk composition and its impact on static stability are also in need of critical studies. The knowledge gaps and questions about Venus and its atmosphere provide the incentive for obtaining the necessary measurements to understand the planet, which can provide some clues to learn about terrestrial exoplanets.

中文翻译：

---

金星大气热结构与辐射平衡

从 M. Lomonosov 在 1761 年凌日期间发现金星有大气层到目前 Akatsuki 轨道飞行器对金星的探索，我们继续了解这颗行星的极端气候和天气。本章试图对大气热结构和辐射平衡的结果进行全面但绝不是详尽的回顾，因为早期的作品发表在金星和金星 II 书籍中，来自最近的航天器和地球调查，并总结了我们当前知识的差距. 自 1985 年两个 VeGa 气球和着陆器飞行以来，就没有对金星深部大气进行原位测量（Sagdeev 等，Science 231:1411–1414, 1986）。因此，大多数关于大气热结构的新信息来自不同的遥感（地基和航天器）技术，使用掩星（太阳红外、恒星紫外和轨道器无线电掩星）、光谱和微波、短波和热红外发射。除了 Meadows 和 Crisp (J. Geophys. Res. 101:4595–4622, 1996) 从 1 μ$\upmu$m 推断出的近地表静态稳定性的一项调查外，结果仅限于高于约 40 km 的高度来自地球的观测。由于大的弯曲角度，无线电掩星在大约 40 公里高度以下几乎无法获得有关低层大气结构的信息。我们的知识差距包括光谱反照率随时间的变化、大气整体成分的垂直变化（平均分子量）、云中入射太阳辐射吸收体的特性、特性和丰度。夜侧云层不透明度变化和深部大气整体成分垂直梯度的原因及其对静态稳定性的影响也需要批判性研究。关于金星及其大气层的知识差距和问题为获得必要的测量值以了解金星提供了动力，这可以为了解类地系外行星提供一些线索。