Water vapor near the cloud tops of Venus from Venus Express/VIRTIS dayside data

► Water vapor abundance at the cloud tops of Venus with high spatial resolution. ► At low latitudes mean water vapor abundance is stable and equal to 3 ± 1 ppm. ► Scatter and maximum at high latitudes may be explained by dynamic processes. ► Water amount contained in a gas phase always dominates that in cloud droplets. ► UV markings do not correlate with the cloud tops and water vapor.