A full three-dimensional model for an artificial plasma cloud in the ionosphere is developed. Such a cloud could be a result of a deliberate release or contamination about a spacecraft. Finite perpendicular and parallel lengths, all elastic collisions between the considered species, finite temperature effects, variable ionospheric densities, variable neutral winds, ambient electric fields and gravity are taken into account. The velocities of the charged species are written with the use of tansport coefficient tensors. The current balance equation includes conductive currents, diffusion currents, currents due to the ambient and contaminant neutral winds, and gravitational drift currents. The numerical solution for a plasma sphere immersed in a plasma with an external electric field is obtained and compared with known analytic solutions. The electrodynamical behavior of Gaussian-like clouds is examined. The neutral cloud simulates an orbital release (U=8 km/s) with various masses. The effects of the central density of the contaminant neutrals and ions are investigated. The perturbation potential increases with increasing ion and neutral density. The perturbation electric field consists of a dipole field to the action of the neutral wind and a diffusion field due to the density gradients. The dipole field is mapped along the magnetic field lines while the diffusion field is bounded within the density perturbation. With cloud densities of 1015 m-3 the ion cloud drifts almost with the neutral cloud velocity. The effects of the coupling of the lower E and F region are also investigated. The ambient plasma is expected to develop image clouds with differential rotation which will stretch the flux tube. The effect of the altitude of the release is examined. It is found that releases at higher altitudes result in faster moving ion clouds. As a result of the nonuniformity of the perturbation electric field, the ion cloud drifts with differential speed which will result in fingerlike shaping. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1991