Venus Atmospheric Composition in situ Data: A Compilation.

Abstract

The Venus atmosphere is of significant interest yet only rudimentary solid data has been gathered about its composition and chemistry. These measurements are scattered through time and place and are limited by parameters such as resolution and error margins as well as reinterpretations. This paper presents an extensive compilation of published in situ data for the atmospheric composition of Venus. It also includes remotely gathered measurements and some extrapolated and modeled data for the lower atmosphere. The composition tables are divided in four categories: noble gases, reactive gases, noble and non-noble isotopes. These tables were first presented in 2016 within the scientific heritage appendix of the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission proposal. These tables provide respective measurements, error margins, techniques, altitudes, instruments, mission and references. The objective of this paper is to provide a simple, comprehensive list of available measurements to date; in particular, the in situ data, to serve as a quick overall Venus atmosphere data reference.