ACE/SWICS observations of heavy ion dropouts near fast-slow stream interfaces

Details ACE/SWICS observations of heavy ion dropouts near fast-slow stream interfaces ACE/SWICS observations of heavy ion dropouts near fast-slow stream interfaces

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsh13b1982w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SH13B-1982

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[2102] Interplanetary Physics / Corotating Streams, [2164] Interplanetary Physics / Solar Wind Plasma, [2169] Interplanetary Physics / Solar Wind Sources, [7509] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Corona

Scientific paper

We present the first in-situ observations of heavy ion dropouts within the slow solar wind, observed for select elements ranging from helium to iron. For iron, these dropouts manifest themselves as depletions of the Fe/H ratio by factors between 2 and 15. The events often exhibit mass-dependent fractionation and are contained in slow, unsteady wind found within 2 days from known stream interfaces. We propose that such dropouts are evidence of gravitational settling within large coronal loops that normally consist of closed magnetic field lines, which later undergo interchange reconnection and become source regions of slow wind. Spectroscopic studies by Raymond in 1997 (and later Feldman in 1999) have yielded strong evidence for gravitational settling within these loops. However, the signature, mass-fractionated plasma has, until now, yet to be observed in-situ. Using data from the SWICS instrument onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we investigate the composition of the solar wind within the dropouts and explore both variations between Carrington rotations and longer term trends over most of a solar cycle. We then compare our observations to the aforementioned previous studies.

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