Results of the first statistical study of Pioneer Venus Orbiter plasma observations in the distant Venus tail: Evidence for a hemispheric asymmetry in the pickup of ionospheric ions

Abstract

Pioneer Venus Orbiter plasma and magnetometer observations from the first nine tail seasons of crossings of the Venus wake are used to study ion pickup in the far wake of an unmagnetized object embedded in the solar wind. This first statistical study treats all of the plasma spectra containing pickup ions in the vicinity of the Venus tail. We find a hemispheric asymmetry in the pickup of ionospheric ions, with approximately four times more O+ events observed in the “northern” magnetic hemisphere (where Z″ > O), i.e., the induced electric field points outward, (away from the ionopause boundary) than in the “southern” (Z″ < O) magnetic hemisphere. Out of a total of 167 large O+ events, 125, or 75%, occurred in the northern hemisphere when position is calculated in terms of Venus radii and 129 or 77% occurred in the “northern” hemisphere when position is expressed in gyroradii. This hemispheric asymmetry in ion pickup is consistent with the prediction of the Cloutier et al. (1974) mass loading model for Venusian ions above the ionopause boundary.