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International audienceThis paper deals with the composition and chemical processes occurring in the neutral atmosphere of Venus. Since the last synthesis, observers as well as modellers have emphasised the spatial and temporal variability of minor species, going beyond a static and uniform picture that may have prevailed in the past. The outline of this paper acknowledges this situation and follows closely the different dimensions along which variability in composition can be observed: vertical, latitudinal, longitudinal, temporal. The strong differences between the atmosphere below and above the cloud layers also dictate the structure of this paper. Observational constraints, obtained from both Earth and Venus Express, as well as 1D, 2D and 3D models results obtained since 1997 are also extensively referred and commented by the authors. An non-exhaustive list of topics included follows: modelled and observed latitudinal and vertical profiles of CO and OCS below the clouds of Venus; vertical profiles of CO and SO2 above the clouds as observed by solar occultation and modelled; temporal and spatial variability of sulphur oxides above the clouds. As a conclusion, open questions and topics of interest for further studies are discussed

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Near‐infrared spectroscopic observations of Venus taken in 1975 revealed O2(a1Δg) airglow from both the dayside and nightside of the planet with emission rates exceeding 1 mega‐Rayleigh (1 MR = 1012 photons cm−2 s−1 into 4π sr). These large emission rates indicated that most of the atomic oxygen produced through the photolysis of CO2 on the dayside of Venus eventually recombined to produce O2 in the excited (a1Δg) state. This result was initially surprising because available laboratory measurements indicated O2(a1Δg) yields from atomic oxygen recombination reactions that were no larger than a few percent. More recent observations reveal even larger O2(a1Δg) airglow intensities as well as dramatic spatial and temporal variations in this airglow. High‐resolution (0.3 cm−1) spectra of the Venus nightside taken with the Canada France Hawaii Telescope/Fourier transform spectrometer in 1991 show spectrally integrated O2(a1Δg) intensities as large as 1.1 mW m−2 sr−1. Once these values are corrected for viewing angle and reflection from the underlying clouds, they indicate emission rates near 3 MR. These spectra also yield rotational temperatures of 186 ± 6 K in the emitting layer (90 to 115 km). Spectral image cubes taken with the Anglo‐Australian Telescope/infrared imaging spectrometer and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope/imaging Fourier transform spectrometer during 1991, 1993, and 1994 provide a more complete description of the spatial and temporal variability in this emission. Images extracted at wavelengths within the O2(a1Δg) Q‐branch (1.269 μm) often show contrasts larger than 10 to 1 across the nightside. Even though the disk‐averaged intensities are comparable to those seen in 1975, some localized regions have airglow emission rates larger than 5 MR. The brightest emission is often confined to 1000‐ to 2000‐km‐diameter regions. These bright regions have been detected over a broad range of latitudes and local times, but they are most often seen at low latitudes and at local times between midnight and 0300 on Venus. The intensity of the brightest spots can change by 20% in less than 1 hour, and they can vanish entirely in less than 1 day. These new observations are providing improved constraints on atmospheric chemical and dynamical models of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Venus.