The surface of Venus has undergone substantial alterations due to volcanic activity throughout its geological history, and some volcanic features suggest that this activity persisted until as recently as 2.5 million years ago. Recent evidence of changes in the surface morphology of a volcanic vent has been interpreted as a potential indication of ongoing volcanic activity. To investigate more widespread alterations that have occurred over time in the planet’s surface morphology, we compared radar images of the same regions observed from 1990 to 1992 with the Magellan spacecraft. We found variations in the radar backscatter from different volcanic-related flow features on the western flank of Sif Mons and in western Niobe Planitia. We suggest that these changes are most reasonably explained as evidence of new lava flows related to volcanic activities that took place during the Magellan spacecraft’s mapping mission with its synthetic-aperture radar. This study provides further evidence in support of a currently geologically active Venus.

在整个地质历史中，金星表面因火山活动而发生了巨大的变化，一些火山特征表明这种活动一直持续到 250 万年前。最近火山口表面形态变化的证据被解释为火山活动正在进行的潜在迹象。为了研究随着时间的推移地球表面形态发生的更广泛的变化，我们将 1990 年至 1992 年观测到的相同区域的雷达图像与麦哲伦航天器进行了比较。我们发现锡夫蒙斯西侧和尼俄伯平原西部不同火山相关流特征的雷达反向散射存在差异。我们认为，这些变化最合理的解释是，与麦哲伦航天器利用合成孔径雷达进行测绘任务期间发生的火山活动有关的新熔岩流的证据。这项研究提供了进一步的证据来支持金星目前处于地质活跃状态。