Surface changes observed on a Venusian volcano during the Magellan mission.

Venus has a geologically young surface, but it is unknown whether it has ongoing active volcanism. From 1990 to 1992, the Magellan spacecraft imaged the planet's surface using synthetic aperture radar. We examine volcanic areas on Venus that were imaged two or three times by Magellan and identify a ~2.2 km 2 volcanic vent that changed shape in the eight months between two radar images. Additional volcanic flows downhill from the vent are visible in the second epoch images, though we cannot rule out that they were present but invisible in the first epoch due to differences in imaging geometry. We interpret these results as ongoing volcanic activity on Venus.