Variability of the solar wind

Details Variability of the solar wind Variability of the solar wind

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsh11c..03v&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SH11C-03

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[7509] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Corona, [7511] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Coronal Holes, [7536] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Solar Activity Cycle

Scientific paper

Using data from the entire Ulysses mission (1990-2009) we quantify the variability of the solar wind using distributions of mass, momentum, and total energy measurements in the wind. For this analysis, we separate solar wind measurements according to its two dynamic states - "fast" and "slow" wind. With the advent of composition instrumentation it could be shown that heavy ion charge states are a significantly improved and more physical way for the distinction of these two states. "Fast" wind originates in relatively cool coronal holes, while the source of the "slow" wind is much less clear but must be near or above the streamer belt. Reflecting the properties of their coronal source regions, the "slow" wind is much more variable than its "fast" counterpart. In extreme cases the "slow" wind can have a speed of close to 1000 km/s. We typically find log-normal distributions of these parameters that are about three times wider in the "slow" wind, even for the momentum flux, which was often considered the least variable solar wind parameter. These data should provide important constraints for studies of solar wind turbulence.

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