Power spectra of the interplanetary magnetic field

Power spectra based on Pioneer 6 interplanetary magnetic field data in early 1966 exhibit a frequency dependence of f ^–2 in the range 2.8 × 10^–4 to 1.6 × 10^–2 cps for periods of both quiet and disturbed field conditions. Both the shape and power levels of these spectra are found to be due to the presence of directional discontinuities in the microstructure (< 0.01 AU) of the interplanetary magnetic field. Power spectra at lower frequencies, in the range of 2.3 × 10^–6 to 1.4 × 10^–4 cps, reflect the field macrostructure (> 0.1 AU) and exhibit a frequency dependence roughly between f ^–1 and f ^–3/2. The results are related to theories of galactic cosmic-ray modulation and are found to be consistent with recent observations of the modulation.     

Unified theory of the interplanetary magnetic field

A simple model is used to present a unified picture of the polarity pattern of the interplanetary magnetic field observed during the solar cycle. Emphasis in this paper is on the field near solar maximum. The heliographic latitude dependence of the dominant polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field is explained in terms of weak poloidal (dipolar) field sources in the sun's photosphere. Unlike the Babcock theory, the author hypothesizes that the dipolar field exists at equatorial latitudes (0–20°), too, (as well as in polar regions) and that the major source of the interplanetary magnetic field observed near the ecliptic plane is the dipolar field from equatorial latitudes. The polarity of the interplanetary field data taken in 1968 and in the first half of 1969 near solar maximum may possibly be explained in terms of a depression of the dipolar field boundary in space. The effect on the solar wind of the greater activity in the northern hemisphere of the sun that existed in 1968 and in the first half of 1969 is believed responsible for this hypothesized depression, especially near solar maximum, of the plane separating the + and - dipolar polarity below the solar equatorial plane in space. Predictions are made concerning the interplanetary field to be observed near the ecliptic plane in each portion of the next solar cycle.     

Comparison of the mean photospheric magnetic field and the interplanetary magnetic field

The mean photospheric magnetic field of the sun seen as a star has been compared with the interplanetary magnetic field observed with spacecraft near the earth. Each change in polarity of the mean solar field is followed about 4 1/2 days later by a change in polarity of the interplanetary field (sector boundary). The scaling of the field magnitude from sun to near earth is within a factor of two of the theoretical value, indicating that large areas on the sun have the same predominant polarity as that of the interplanetary sector pattern. An independent determination of the zero level of the solar magnetograph has yielded a value of 0.1±0.05 G. An effect attributed to a delay of approximately one solar rotation between the appearance of a new photospheric magnetic feature and the resulting change in the interplanetary field is observed.     

Short-period interplanetary and polar magnetic field variations

It is shown that the dependence of the variations of vertical component of the polar cap magnetic field on the sector structure (actually, the azimuthal or Y component) of the interplanetary magnetic field as first discovered by Svalgaard (1968) and Mansurov (1969) extends to variations as brief as 1 hr or even less. The relation between sector structure dependent variations and substorm fields as indicated by the southward-directed component of the interplanetary magnetic field is investigated by comparing brief variations over selected intervals of time. The independence of the variations of the polar cap vertical and horizontal components suggests that there are at least two different current systems which produce brief variations in the polar cap. One of the current systems is related to the substonn field; the other is strongly seasonally dependent and is confined to the dayside sector of the Earth.     

Directional discontinuities in the interplanetary magnetic field

It is shown that the interplanetary magnetic field has different characteristics on different scales, and it is noted that a given physical theory may not be applicable or relevant on all scales. Four scales are defined in terms of time intervals on which the data may be viewed. Many discontinuities in the magnetic-field direction are seen on the mesoscale ( 4 days, 1 AU). The characteristics of such directional discontinuities which were observed by Pioneer 6 during the period December 16, 1965-January 4, 1966 are presented, with special emphasis on their distribution in time. Previously, it was suggested that such discontinuities are simply boundaries of spaghetti-like filaments extending from the sun to the earth. Here it is shown that on the mesoscale unique filaments with sharp boundaries containing well-ordered magnetic fields are not always seen although discontinuities are always present at 1 AU. Thus, the interplanetary medium appears to be discontinuous rather than filamentary. The filamentary model implies that discontinuities originate at the sun and are convected with the solar wind. The discontinuous model allows the additional possibility that the discontinuities form in the interplanetary medium far from the sun.     

Large-scale three-dimensional structure of the interplanetary magnetic field

Analysis of observations of the white-light corona performed aboard OSO-7 is evidence for the existence of coronal ribbon-structures, which may be observed on the limb as coronal streamers. It is shown that prolongation of these structures into interplanetary space forms a curved surface; intersection of this surface is accompanied by a change of polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field, which existed in May–July 1973; and its connection with several phenomena in the solar atmosphere, has been found.     

Auroral boundary variations and the interplanetary magnetic field

This paper describes a DMSP data set of 150 auroral images during magnetically quiet times which have been analyzed in corrected geomagnetic local time and latitudinal coordinates and fit to offset circles. The fit parameters R (circle radius) and (X, Y) (center location) have been compared to the hourly interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) prior to the time of the satellite scan of the aurora. The results for variation of R with B_z, agree with previous works and generally show about a 1° increase of R with increase of southward B_z by 1 nT. The location of the circle center also has a clear statistical shift in the Southern Hemisphere with IMF B_y such that the southern polar cap moves towards dusk (dawn) with B_y > (B_y < 0).     

The interplanetary magnetic field environment at Mercury's orbit

Mercury is exposed to the most dynamic heliospheric space environment of any planet in the solar system. The magnetosphere is particularly sensitive to variations in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), which control the intensity and geometry of the magnetospheric current systems that are the dominant source of uncertainty in determinations of the internal planetary magnetic field structure. The Magnetometer on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has made extensive magnetic field observations in the inner heliosphere over the heliocentric distances of Mercury's orbit, between 0.31 and 0.47 AU. In this paper, Magnetometer data from MESSENGER, obtained at rates of 2 and 20 vector samples per second, are used together with previous observations in the inner heliosphere by Helios and at Earth by the Advanced Composition Explorer, to study the characteristics of IMF variability at Mercury's orbit. Although the average IMF geometry and magnitude depend on heliocentric distance as predicted by Parker, the variability is large, comparable to the total field magnitude. Using models for the external current systems we evaluate the impact of the variability on the field near the planet and find that the large IMF fluctuations should produce variations of the magnetospheric field of up to 30% of the dipole field at 200 km altitude, corresponding to the planned periapsis of MESSENGER's orbit at Mercury. The IMF fluctuations in the frequency range are consistent with turbulence, whereas evidence for dissipation was observed for . The transition between the turbulent and dissipative regimes is indicated by a break in the power spectrum, and the frequency of this break point is proportional to the IMF magnitude.     

A solar cycle variation of the interplanetary magnetic field

Measurements of the north-south (B _z component of the interplanetary field as compiled by King (1975) when organized into yearly histograms of the values of ¦B _z ¦ reveal the following. (1) The histograms decrease exponentially from a maximum occurrence frequency at the value ¦B _z ¦ = 0. (2) The slope of the exponential on a semi-log plot varies systematically roughly in phase with the sunspot number in such a way that the probability of large values of ¦B _z ¦ is much greater in the years near sunspot maximum than in the years near sunspot minimum. (3) There is a sparsely populated high-value tail, for which the data are too meager to discern any solar cycle variation. The high-value tail is perhaps associated with travelling interplanetary disturbances. (4) The solar cycle variations of B _z and the ordinary indicators of solar activity are roughly correlated. (5) The solar cycle variation of B _z is distinctly different than that of the solar wind speed and that of the geomagnetic Ap disturbance index.Now at the Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif. 90245, U.S.A.     

Spectral polarization analysis of the interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations

A new computational method and algorithm, based on complex Fourier analysis, is used to derive the spectral density of plane and circularly polarized fluctuation components of the interplanetary magnetic field. Applications of the method have been made using HEOS 2 (1 AU), Pioneer 10 (5 AU), Pioneer 11 (20 AU), and ICE (Giocabini-Zinner's comet) data sets. The results show the existence of circularly polarized MHD waves in all cases.     

Spatial structure of transverse oscillations in the interplanetary magnetic field

The spatial structure of the transverse oscillations in the interplanetary magnetic field at 1 AU is studied by comparing the simultaneous observations by Explorer 33 and 35 satellites at the maximum separation of about 200R _E. The anisotropy characteristics of these oscillations suggest that the oscillations sampled are Alfvén waves. It is found that the size of the region of the wave coherence is related to the solar wind velocity; the size is 80R _E when the wind velocity is lower than 500 km s^–1 but becomes less than this when the wind velocity is higher. An inference is made that the solar atmospheric turbulence contributing to the faster solar wind is finer in scale than that associated with the slower wind.A postgraduate student at the Tokai University     

Configuration of the auroral oval and the interplanetary magnetic field

The poleward boundary of the auroral oval, whose footline forms the periphery of the polar cap, is calculated, based on a model in which the geomagnetic field is interpermeated with the interplanetary field. It is shown that the calculated auroral oval size varies with the strength and direction of the interplanetary magnetic field, in agreement with recent observations of the location of large-scale nightside auroras.     

A solar cycle variation of the interplanetary magnetic field configuration

The representation of the sector boundaries, published by Svalgaard (1974, 1975) in a superposed 27-days Bartels format showed that they have a significant preference to occur in certain days of the solar rotation. Further study of these data, as well as of the polarized days in the vicinity of them, pointed out that during the epoch of extrema of the 11-year cycle there is a well-established 2-sector structure, on the average. On the contrary, a mean 4-sector structure is more prominent during the intermediate years.     

Search for long term variations of the interplanetary magnetic field

A statistical study is made of the long term variations of the interplanetary magnetic field parameters collected in the years 1964 to 1973 by 12 spacecraft (IMP's, Pioneers and HEOS). Although temporal fluctuations are observed on field components and magnitudes no clear solar cycle variation is found. The same conclusion holds for the statistical distributions and variances of these parameters. A search for possible heliographic latitude effects on the field also leads to a negative conclusion.     

Influences of the interplanetary magnetic field on the auroral dynamics

This paper reports the study concerning the latitudinal dispalacement of the auroral oval as a function of the northward orientation of the B_z-component IMF and the relation between southward B_z and the auroral dynamics in the night sector.     

Magnetotail response to sudden changes in the interplanetary magnetic field

The effect of southward or northward changes in the interplanetary magnetic field is examined statistically in the nightside magnetosphere over the range of 6.6 to 80R _E from the Earth. After southward changes, the deformation of the magnetosphere toward a greater antisunward extension of field lines occurs at 6.6R _E with 10 min delay and spreads down the tail to 80R _E in 30 min. Around the onset of the field-line collapse that occurs 1–2 hr later, the southwarddirected field is observed briefly in the distant tail. The effect of northward changes could not be recognized in the lobe region of the tail.     

Radio observations of interplanetary magnetic field structures out of the ecliptic

New observations of the out-of-the ecliptic trajectories of type III solar radio bursts have been obtained from simultaneous direction finding measurements on two independent satellite experiments, IMP-6 with spin plane in the ecliptic, and RAE-2 with spin plane normal to the ecliptic. Burst exciter trajectories were observed which originated at the active region and then crossed the ecliptic plane at about 0.8 AU. We find a considerable large scale north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field followed by the exciters. The apparent north-south and east-west angular source sizes observed by the two spacecraft are approximately equal, and range from 25° at 600 kHz to 110° at 80 kHz.     

Influence of a solar active region on the interplanetary magnetic field

The interplanetary magnetic field has been mapped between 0.4 and 1.2 AU in the ecliptic plane, extrapolating from satellite measurements at 1 AU. The structure within sectors and the evolution of sectors are discussed. The development of a solar active region appears to produce magnetic loops in the interplanetary medium that result in the formation of a new sector.     

Latitudinal and solar-cycle dependence of the interplanetary magnetic field predominant polarity

A study of the predominant interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) polarity is made, for the time period 1957–1977. The examination of the mean positive and negative sector width for time periods (semesters) for which the Earth was in northern and southern heliolatitudes shows that the predominant polarity for every semester follows, up to a certain extent, the Rosenberg-Coleman effect. However, the statistical support is not satisfactory. The same conclusion was pointed out by a similar study of data grouped over various phases of the solar cycle.Additionally the relative frequency of positive (negative) IMF polarity days, appeared over a mean solar rotation, shows that the general pattern of the mean IMF has a tendency to reoccur in the homologous (corresponding) phases of different solar cycles.