Plasma channels in the Venus upper ionosphere

Abstract

The structure of the Venus nightside ionosphere is modeled in terms of a flow configuration derived from the position of the intermediate transition along the flanks of the ionosheath downstream from the magnetic polar regions. It is suggested that the shocked solar wind erodes more strongly the polar ionosphere producing plasma channels that extend downstream from the magnetic polar regions. Such features represent the main source of mass loss along the plasma tail and imply a small overall solar wind-induced depletion of the planetary ionosphere. The plasma channels can account for the observation of ionospheric holes in PVO passes through the Venus wake. The expected flow distribution within the wake is consistent with the entry of plasma fluxes from the magnetic polar regions that was suggested earlier to account for geometry of the nightside ionopause (Pérez de Tejada, 1980).