What process allows for continuous, slow atmospheric stripping despite Venus's induced magnetic barrier?
Sputtering, where solar wind particles knock atmospheric ions free.
Even though the induced magnetosphere pushes the majority of the solar wind away, the interaction at the atmospheric boundary is described as more direct and violent compared to the protection offered by Earth's intrinsic magnetic shell. This continuous, albeit slow, erosion occurs via a process named sputtering. Sputtering involves individual particles from the solar wind physically impacting and knocking atmospheric ions away from Venus, leading to material loss over vast timescales. The continued thickness of Venus's atmosphere suggests that this rate of loss must be extremely slow, or that internal processes like volcanism are replenishing the lost material at an equivalent rate.
