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.
Extraterrestrial vortex
Venus has two large long-lived pairs of inverted anticyclones, one pair near each pole (polar vortices), discovered in 2006 by the Venus Express probe. Venus's southern pole vortex is the size of Europe and starts at the lower clouds of its atmosphere (42 kilometers from the surface) to the upper clouds of the atmosphere (63 kilometers from the surface). The vortex's elements are constantly being broken apart and coming back together as the vortex circles every 2.2 days. "The vortex is never destroyed, but it evolves continuously between morphologies" or shapes, Garate-Lopez said. Two centers of rotation of the 12-mile-high (20 kilometers) storm, which exist at different altitudes, rarely ever line up.