Climate model shows that Venus could never have had oceans

Artist's impression illustrating the lack of water on Venus. Manchu - Whether Venus, one of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, ever had oceans remains an unsolved puzzle. Although an American study hypothesized involving in particular scientists from the CNRS and University of Versailles-Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines 1 (UVSQ). Using a state-of-the-art climate model, the research team has come up with an alternative scenario to the American study. Shortly after its birth 4.5 billion years ago, the young Venus was covered with magma. To form oceans, the temperature of its atmosphere would have had to decrease enough for water to condense and fall as rain over a period of several thousand years, as happened on Earth. However, although the Sun at that time was 30% fainter than it is now, this would not have been sufficient to reduce the young planet's temperature to a point where oceans could form.