Solar wind and coronal structure near sunspot minimum: Pioneer and SMM observations from 1985-1987

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA095iA06p08231· OSTI ID:5269574

Mihalov, J D; Barnes, A ^[1]; Hundhausen, A J ^[2]; Smith, E J ^[3]

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1. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA (USA)
2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (USA)
3. California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena (USA)

The solar wind speeds observed in the outer heliosphere (20 to 40 AU heliocentric distance, approximately) by Pioneers 10 an 11, and at a heliocentric distance of 0.7 AU by the Pioneer Venus spacecraft, reveal a complex set of changes in the years near the recent sunspot minimum, 1985-1987. The pattern of recurrent solar wind streams, the long-term average speed, and the sector polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field all changed in a manner suggesting both a temporal variation, and a changing dependence on heliographic latitude. Coronal observations made from the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft during the same epoch show a systematic variation in coronal structure and (by implication) the magnetic structure imposed on the expanding solar wind. These observations suggest interpretation of the solar wind speed variations in terms of the familiar model where the speed increases with distance from a nearly flat interplanetary current sheet (or with heliomagnetic latitude), and where this current sheet becomes aligned with the solar equatorial plane as sunspot minimum approaches, but deviates rapidly from that orientation after minimum. The authors confirm here that this basic organization of the solar wind speed persists in the outer heliosphere with an orientation of the neutral sheet consistent with that inferred at a heliocentric distance of a few solar radii, from the coronal observations.

• OSTI ID: 5269574
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Vol. 95:A6; ISSN 0148-0227
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
SOLAR CORONA
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
SOLAR WIND
VELOCITY
HELIOSPHERE
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
ORIENTATION
PIONEER SPACE PROBES
SOLAR CYCLE
VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERES
SOLAR ACTIVITY
SOLAR ATMOSPHERE
SPACE VEHICLES
STELLAR ATMOSPHERES
STELLAR CORONAE
VEHICLES
640104* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Solar Phenomena