Atmosphere of Venus
The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus. It is composed primarily of carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth. The temperature at the surface is 740 K (467 °C, 872 °F), and the pressure is 93 bar (9.3 MPa), roughly the pressure found underwater on Earth. The Venusian atmosphere supports opaque clouds made of sulfuric acid, making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible. Information about the topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging. Aside from carbon dioxide, the other main component is nitrogen. Other chemical compounds are present only in trace amounts.
Atmosphere of Venus
The clouds of Venus may be capable of producing lightning, and the Soviet Venera 9 and 10 orbiters obtained optical and electromagnetic evidence of lightning . The European Space Agency's "Venus Express" in 2007 detected whistler waves which were attributed to lightning. Their intermittent appearance indicates a pattern associated with weather activity. According to the whistler observations, the lightning rate is at least half of that on Earth.