Connecting the Sun and the solar wind: Source regions of the fast wind observed in interplanetary space

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy

Scientific paper

Highly sensitive radio occultation and white light measurements of path-integrated density have shown that the solar corona comprises three distinct morphological regions, streamer, quiet Sun, and polar coronal hole, which except for the streamer region, extend radially into interplanetary space from 1.15Rs to at least 30Rs. In this paper we build on these results by comparing solar wind flow speeds observed at the same time as path-integrated density. Flow speeds are inferred from the Doppler dimming of O VI lines with the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, while the simultaneous polarized brightness measurements of path-integrated density are from the High Altitude Observatory Mauna Loa Mk III K-coronameter. The comparison of global flow speed and density observations in 1997 produces three new results. First, it shows, that the three distinct morphological regions, identified earlier in density measurements, are present in the latitudinal profile of the flow speed in the corona. In particular, the flow speed measurements provide evidence for the quiet Sun as an additional source of fast wind. Second, the comparison shows that flow speed and density are anticorrelated in the solar corona. Third, it demonstrates that the Mk III pB measurements can readily serve as a proxy for velocity distribution in the outer corona. The extensive Mk III data set that spans nearly two solar cycles therefore provides the framework of near-Sun measurements with which connections with solar wind measurements in interplanetary space can be made. Specifically, we show that fast wind regions in the heliosphere, observed directly by Ulysses and Wind plasma measurements and remotely by Nagoya interplanetary scintillation measurements, map radially back to fast wind regions at the Sun identified by the Mk III data.

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