On the Global Distribution of Slow Solar Wind

Details On the Global Distribution of Slow Solar Wind On the Global Distribution of Slow Solar Wind

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufmsh21a0276z&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #SH21A-0276

Physics

7511 Coronal Holes, 7524 Magnetic Fields

Scientific paper

The heliosphere is composed of three types of solar wind: solar wind from coronal holes (mostly fast wind), solar wind associated with streamers (mostly slow wind), and transient interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). In this work, Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and Ulysses data from 1997 to 2006 are used to investigate the properties and relative contributions of these three sources of solar wind during solar cycle 23. Plasma composition (C6+/C5+, O7+/O6+, Fe/O, average charge state of Fe), moments of the proton distribution function (density, velocity, and temperature), and the magnetic field are analyzed. The ratio of O7+/O6+ is used as a criterion to separate ICMEs and the two types of quasi-stationary solar wind based on the results by Richardson & Cane (2004). Similarly, streamer-associated wind is distinguished from coronal hole wind based on its compositional signature O7+/O6+. Furthermore, by adding the location of the heliospheric current sheet from a PFSS model, the ACE and Ulysses data are extrapolated into a global heliospheric structure at 2.5 solar radii. In these maps, we estimate the normal distance from the origin of streamer wind and coronal hole wind to the local current sheet and find that streamer wind comes from a band with width of approximately 23° around the current sheet and coronal hole wind originates from a region 23° beyond the current sheet. This study provides important constraints on the origin of the solar wind and its relation to the global heliospheric structures. A new theoretical explanation of this distribution of the slow wind source region is also provided.

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