This chart shows the composition of Venus's atmosphere by volume. Like Mars it is dominated by carbon dioxide, but Venus's atmosphere is extraordinarily thick, driving a runaway greenhouse effect.

About: Composition of Venus' Atmosphere

Overview of the data behind this chart

This chart shows the composition of Venus's atmosphere by volume. Like Mars it is dominated by carbon dioxide, but Venus's atmosphere is extraordinarily thick, driving a runaway greenhouse effect.

AI Insight

Venus's atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide and 3.5% nitrogen, a composition broadly similar to Mars yet with dramatically different consequences. Because Venus's atmosphere is roughly 90 times as massive as Earth's, that carbon dioxide traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, producing surface temperatures near 465 C, hot enough to melt lead. Everything beyond CO2 and nitrogen exists only in trace amounts: sulfur dioxide (about 0.015%) feeds the planet's thick sulfuric-acid clouds, while argon, water vapour and carbon monoxide register at just a few parts per million. The near-total absence of water and free oxygen, together with the crushing carbon-dioxide load, makes Venus a cautionary example of how the very same dominant gas yields a frozen desert on Mars but a furnace on Venus, depending on atmospheric mass.

Data source: NASA / Atmosphere of Venus

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆

Carbon Dioxide leads with 97 in All Time.

📊

Average value in All Time: 17 · median: 0.

↔️

Gap in All Time: Carbon Dioxide is 56764.7× larger than Carbon Monoxide.

Chart Controls Customize your visualization

Chart Type

Bar

H-bar

Line

Area

Table

Filter by Categories

Additional Data

Composition of Venus' Atmosphere

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

Admin

⬡

Data Points

6 categories · 1 year

↑

Top Value

96.50

Carbon Dioxide

Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) · All Time

◈

Metrics

Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)

◷

Period

All Time

Single year snapshot

Category Rankings

Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) · All Time

#	Category	All Time
🥇	Carbon Dioxide	96.50
🥈	Nitrogen	3.50
🥉	Sulfur Dioxide	0.02
4	Argon	0.01
5	Water Vapor	0.00
6	Carbon Monoxide	0.00

Statistical Summary — Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) · All Time

96.50

Maximum

0.00

Minimum

Average

Median

What This Data Shows

Auto-generated trend summaries per category

→

Carbon Dioxide

Recorded 96.50 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

→

Nitrogen

Recorded 3.50 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

→

Sulfur Dioxide

Recorded 0.02 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

→

Argon

Recorded 0.01 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

→

Water Vapor

Recorded 0.00 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

→

Carbon Monoxide

Recorded 0.00 Share of Atmosphere (% by volume) in All Time.

Source

Full Data Table

6 records across 1 year

6 sourced

Category	Metric	All Time
Carbon Dioxide	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	96.50
Nitrogen	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	3.50
Sulfur Dioxide	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	0.02
Argon	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	0.01
Water Vapor	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	0.00
Carbon Monoxide	Share of Atmosphere (% by volume)	0.00