The effects of a background of stationary, homogeneous, isotropic turbulence on barium releases in the F region of the ionosphere are found by inclusion of such turbulence in previously derived nonlinear model equations. An approach similar to quasi-linear theory yields an enhanced diffusion coefficient for the release. It is shown that this turbulent diffusion can account for the large length scales observed in F region barium releases. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988