Plasma clouds above the ionopause of Venus and their implications

The global distribution of the plasma clouds observed by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter suggest that they originate at the dayside ionopause as wavelike structures which may become detached and swept downstream in the ionosheath flow. Alternatively, the clouds may actually be attached streamers analogous to cometary structure. Estimates of the total ion escape rate from Venus by this process yields values up to 7 x 10 to the 26th ions/s. Preliminary analysis shows that such an escape flux could be supplied by the upward diffusion limited flow of O(+) from the entire dayside ionosphere. If such an escape flux were to continue over the entire lifetime of Venus, the effects upon the evolution of the primitive atmosphere may have been significant.