Two-Station Interplanetary Scintillation Measurements of Solar Wind Speed near the Sun Using the X-band Radio Signal of the Nozomi Spacecraft

Interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements of the solar wind speed for the distance range between 13 and 37 R _S were carried out during the solar conjunction of the Nozomi spacecraft in 2000?–?2001 using the X-band radio signal. Two large-aperture antennas were employed in this study, and the baseline between the two antennas was several times longer than the Fresnel scale for the X-band. We successfully detected a positive correlation of IPS from the cross-correlation analysis of received signal data during ingress, and estimated the solar wind speed from the time lag corresponding to the maximum correlation by assuming that the solar wind flows radially. The speed estimates range between 200 and 540?km?s^?1 with the majority below 400?km?s^?1. We examined the radial variation in the solar wind speed along the same streamline by comparing the Nozomi data with data obtained at larger distances. Here, we used solar wind speed data taken from 327 MHz IPS observations of the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL), Nagoya University, and in?situ measurements by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) for the comparison, and we considered the effect of the line-of-sight integration inherent to IPS observations for the comparison. As a result, Nozomi speed data were proven to belong to the slow component of the solar wind. Speed estimates within 30 R _S were found to be systematically slower by 10?–?15 % than the terminal speeds, suggesting that the slow solar wind is accelerated between 13 and 30 R _S.     

Quasi-Periodic Releases of Streamer Blobs and Velocity Variability of the Slow Solar Wind near the Sun

We search for persistent and quasi-periodic release events of streamer blobs during 2007 with the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and assess the velocity of the slow solar wind along the plasma sheet above the corresponding streamer by measuring the dynamic parameters of blobs. We find ten quasi-periodic release events of streamer blobs lasting for three to four days. In each day of these events, we observe three – five blobs. The results are in line with previous studies using data observed near the last solar minimum. Using the measured blob velocity as a proxy for that of the mean flow, we suggest that the velocity of the background slow solar wind near the Sun can vary significantly within a few hours. This provides an observational manifestation of the large velocity variability of the slow solar wind near the Sun.     

行星际闪烁(IPS)单站观测对太阳风速度的诊断

借助于弱散射理论和模式拟合方法，单站行星际闪烁观测可以诊断太阳风速度，本文讨论了太阳风参数和射电源角尺度对闪烁谱的影响，以及太阳风速度的积分效应，结果表明，闪烁谱的特征是与视线上距太阳最近处的太阳风速度直接相关的。     

Relation Between Coronal Hole Areas and Solar Wind Speeds Derived from Interplanetary Scintillation Measurements

We investigate the relation between coronal hole (CH) areas and solar wind speeds during 1995?–?2011 using the potential field (PF) model analysis of magnetograph observations and interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations by the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (formerly Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory) of Nagoya University. We obtained a significant positive correlation between the CH areas (\(A\)) derived from the PF model calculations and solar wind speeds (\(V\)) derived from the IPS observations. The correlation coefficients between them are usually high, but they drop significantly in solar maxima. The slopes of the \(A\)?–?\(V\) relation are roughly constant except for the period around solar maximum, when flatter or steeper slopes are observed. The excursion of the correlation coefficients and slopes at solar maxima is ascribed partly to the effect of rapid structural changes in the coronal magnetic field and solar wind, and partly to the predominance of small CHs. It is also demonstrated that \(V\) is inversely related to the flux expansion factor (\(f\)) and that \(f\) is closely related to \(A^{-1/2}\); hence, \(V \propto A^{1/2}\). A better correlation coefficient is obtained from the \(A^{1/2}\)?–?\(V\) relation, and this fact is useful for improving space weather predictions. We compare the CH areas derived from the PF model calculations with He i 1083 nm observations and show that the PF model calculations provide reliable estimates of the CH area, particularly for large \(A\).     

Heliolatitude and Time Variations of Solar Wind Structure from in situ Measurements and Interplanetary Scintillation Observations

The 3D structure of the solar wind and its evolution in time are needed for heliospheric modeling and interpretation of energetic neutral atoms observations. We present a model to retrieve the solar wind structure in heliolatitude and time using all available and complementary data sources. We determine the heliolatitude structure of solar wind speed on a yearly time grid over the past 1.5 solar cycles based on remote-sensing observations of interplanetary scintillations, in situ out-of-ecliptic measurements from Ulysses, and in situ in-ecliptic measurements from the OMNI 2 database. Since in situ out-of-ecliptic information on the solar wind density structure is not available apart from the Ulysses data, we derive correlation formulae between the solar wind speed and density and use the information on the solar wind speed from interplanetary scintillation observations to retrieve the 3D structure of the solar wind density. With the variations of solar wind density and speed in time and heliolatitude available, we calculate variations in solar wind flux, dynamic pressure, and charge-exchange rate in the approximation of stationary H atoms.     

Visibility-Graph Analysis of the Solar Wind Velocity

We analyze in situ measurements of the solar wind velocity obtained by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and the Helios spacecraft during the years 1998?–?2012 and 1975?–?1983, respectively. The data mainly belong to solar cycles 23 (1996?–?2008) and 21 (1976?–?1986). We used the directed horizontal-visibility-graph (DHVg) algorithm and estimated a graph functional, namely, the degree distance (D), which is defined using the Kullback–Leibler divergence (KLD) to understand the time irreversibility of solar wind time-series. We estimated this degree-distance irreversibility parameter for these time-series at different phases of the solar activity cycle. The irreversibility parameter was first established for known dynamical data and was then applied to solar wind velocity time-series. It is observed that irreversibility in solar wind velocity fluctuations show a similar behavior at 0.3 AU (Helios data) and 1 AU (ACE data). Moreover, the fluctuations change over the phases of the activity cycle.     

Interplanetary Scintillation Observations of Stream Interaction Regions in the Solar Wind

We present a summary of results from ten years of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations of stream interaction regions (SIRs) in the solar wind. Previous studies had shown that SIRs were characterized by intermediate-velocity solar wind and – in the case of compressive interactions – higher levels of scintillation. In this study we considered all cases of intermediate velocities in IPS observations from the European Incoherent SCATter (EISCAT) radar facility made at low- and mid-heliographic latitudes between 1994 and 2003. After dismissing intermediate-velocity observations which were associated with solar-wind transients (such as coronal mass ejections) we found that the remaining cases of intermediate velocities lay above coronal structures where stream interaction would be expected. An improved ballistic mapping method (compared to that used in earlier EISCAT studies of interaction regions) was used to identify the regions of raypath in IPS observations which might be expected to include interaction regions and to project these regions out to the distances of in-situ observations. The early stages of developing compression regions, consistent with their development on the leading edges of compressive stream interaction regions, were clearly detected as close to the Sun as 30 R _⊙, and further ballistic projection out to the distances of in-situ observations clearly associated these developing structures with density and velocity features characteristic of developed interaction regions in in-situ data in the cases when such data were available. The same approach was applied to study non-compressive interaction regions (shear layers) between solar-wind streams of different velocities where the stream interface lay at near-constant latitude and the results compared with those from compressive interaction regions. The results confirm that intermediate velocities seen in IPS observations above stream boundaries may arise from either detection of intermediate-velocity flow in compression regions, or from non-compressive shear layers. The variation in velocity about the mean determined from IPS measurements (representing the spread in velocity across that part of the raypath associated with the interaction region in the analysis) was comparable in compressive and non-compressive regions – a potentially interesting result which may contain important information on the geometry of developing SIRs. It is clear from these results that compressive and non-compressive interaction regions belong to the same class of stream – stream interaction, with the dominant mode determined by the latitudinal gradient of the stream interface. Finally, we discuss the results from this survey in the light of new data from the Heliospheric Imagers (HI) on the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft and other instruments, and suggest possible directions for further work.     

Seeing-Induced Errors in Solar Doppler Velocity Measurements

Imaging systems based on a narrow-band tunable filter are used to obtain Doppler velocity maps of solar features. These velocity maps are created by taking the difference between the blue- and red-wing intensity images of a chosen spectral line. This method has the inherent assumption that these two images are obtained under identical conditions. With the dynamical nature of the solar features as well as the Earth’s atmosphere, systematic errors can be introduced in such measurements. In this paper, a quantitative estimate of the errors introduced due to variable seeing conditions for ground-based observations is simulated and compared with real observational data for identifying their reliability. It is shown, under such conditions, that there is a strong cross-talk from the total intensity to the velocity estimates. These spurious velocities are larger in magnitude for the umbral regions compared to the penumbra or quiet-Sun regions surrounding the sunspots. The variable seeing can induce spurious velocities up to about 1 km s⁻¹. It is also shown that adaptive optics, in general, helps in minimising this effect.     

Observations of Rapid Velocity Variations in the Slow Solar Wind

The technique of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) is the observation of rapid fluctuations of the radio signal from an astronomical compact source as the signal passes through the ever-changing density of the solar wind. Cross-correlation of simultaneous observations of IPS from a single radio source, received at multiple sites of the European Incoherent SCATter (EISCAT) radio antenna network, is used to determine the velocity of the solar wind material passing over the lines of sight of the antennas. Calculated velocities reveal the slow solar wind to contain rapid velocity variations when viewed on a time-scale of several minutes. Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) Heliospheric Imager (HI) observations of white-light intensity have been compared with EISCAT observations of IPS to identify common density structures that may relate to the rapid velocity variations in the slow solar wind. We have surveyed a one-year period, starting in April 2007, of the EISCAT IPS observing campaigns beginning shortly after the commencement of full science operations of the STEREO mission in a bid to identify common density structures in both EISCAT and STEREO HI datasets. We provide a detailed investigation and presentation of joint IPS/HI observations from two specific intervals on 23 April 2007 and 19 May 2007 for which the IPS P-Point (point of closest approach of the line of sight to the Sun) was between 72 and 87 solar radii out from the Sun’s centre. During the 23 April interval, a meso-scale (of the order of 10⁵ km or larger) transient structure was observed by HI-1A to pass over the IPS ray path near the P-Point; the observations of IPS showed a micro-scale structure (of the order of 10² km) within the meso-scale transient. Observations of IPS from the second interval, on 19 May, revealed similar micro-scale velocity changes, however, no transient structures were detected by the HIs during that period. We also pose some fundamental thoughts on the slow solar wind structure itself.     

ICME Identification from Solar Wind Ion Measurements

Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), the interplanetary counterpart of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are most commonly identified by their enhanced magnetic field strengths and rotating magnetic field orientation. However, there are other frequent signatures in the plasma. We use a pair of these signatures, a linearly decreasing plasma bulk velocity and a cool (< 20 km s⁻¹) ion thermal speed, to identify candidate ICMEs. Many ICMEs, identified through their magnetic signatures, are also found by their ion signatures alone. However, many are not. These missed ICMEs appear not to be expanding, even when they are accompanied by leading shocks. The ICMEs with both the magnetic and ion signatures appear to be expanding as judged from either set of observations. The most clearly defined ICMEs have transit times from the Sun and growth times to the observed size that are equal. These ropes fit the paradigm of compact magnetic structures arising low in the corona and expanding uniformly in time, as they travel at constant center of mass speed toward 1 AU.     

Temporal Evolution of the Solar Wind Bulk Velocity at Solar Minimum by Correlating the STEREO A and B PLASTIC Measurements

The two STEREO spacecraft with nearly identical instrumentation were launched near solar activity minimum and they separate by about 45° per year, providing a unique tool to study the temporal evolution of the solar wind. We analyze the solar wind bulk velocity measured by the two PLASTIC plasma instruments onboard the two STEREO spacecraft. During the first half year of our measurements (March?–?August 2007) we find the typical alternating slow and fast solar wind stream pattern expected at solar minimum. To evaluate the temporal evolution of the solar wind bulk velocity we exclude the spatial variations and calculate the correlation between the solar wind bulk velocity measured by the two spacecraft. We account for the different spacecraft positions in radial distance and longitude by calculating the corresponding time lag. After adjusting for this time lag we compare the solar wind bulk velocity measurements at the two spacecraft and calculate the correlation between the two time-shifted datasets. We show how this correlation decreases as the time difference between two corresponding measurements increases. As a result, the characteristic temporal changes in the solar wind bulk velocity can be inferred. The obtained correlation is 0.95 for a time lag of 0.5 days and 0.85 for 2 days.

     

Fast Solar Wind Velocity in a Polar Coronal Hole during Solar Minimum

We present a study of the outflow velocity of the fast wind in the northern polar coronal hole observed on 21 May 1996, during the minimum of solar activity, in the frame of a joint observing program of the SOHO (Solar Heliospheric Observatory) mission. The outflow velocity is inferred from an analysis of the Doppler dimming of the intensities of the Ovi 1032, 1037 and Hi L 1216 lines observed between 1.5 R and 3.5 R with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS), operating onboard SOHO. The analysis shows that for a coronal plasma characterized by low density, as derived for a polar hole at solar minimum by Guhathakurta et al. (1999), and low temperature, as directly measured at the base of this coronal hole by David et al. (1998), the oxygen outflow speed derived spectroscopically is consistent with that implied by the proton flux conservation. The hydrogen outflow is also consistent with flux conservation if the deviation from isotropy of the velocity distribution of the hydrogen atoms is negligible. Hence, for this cool and tenuous corona, the oxygen ions and neutral hydrogen atoms flow outward roughly at the same speed, which increases from 40 km s^–1 at 1.5 R to 360 km s^–1 at 3.1 R , with an average acceleration of the order of 4.5×10³ cm s^–2. The highly anisotropic velocity distributions of the Ovi ions found in the analysis confirm that the process which is heating the oxygen ions acts preferentially across the magnetic field.     

The Dynamic Spectrum of Interplanetary Scintillation: First Solar Wind Observations on LOFAR

The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a next-generation radio telescope which uses thousands of stationary dipoles to observe celestial phenomena. These dipoles are grouped in various ‘stations’ which are centred on the Netherlands with additional ‘stations’ across Europe. The telescope is designed to operate at frequencies from 10 to 240 MHz with very large fractional bandwidths (25?–?100 %). Several ‘beam-formed’ observing modes are now operational and the system is designed to output data with high time and frequency resolution, which are highly configurable. This makes LOFAR eminently suited for dynamic spectrum measurements with applications in solar and planetary physics. In this paper we describe progress in developing automated data analysis routines to compute dynamic spectra from LOFAR time–frequency data, including correction for the antenna response across the radio frequency pass-band and mitigation of terrestrial radio-frequency interference (RFI). We apply these data routines to observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS), commonly used to infer solar wind velocity and density information, and present initial science results.     

Rapid Measurements of Solar Wind Ions with the Triana PlasMag Faraday Cup

The Triana PlasMag Faraday Cup (FC) will be able to determine speed, flow angles, temperature, and density of the main solar wind ion species with a time resolution of better than one second. Thus, the Triana PlasMag FC will enable resolution of spatial structures as small as a few hundred kilometers as the structures convect past the spacecraft. Under typical solar wind conditions, that size is comparable to a few proton gyroradii. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Scintillation Observations of Strong Northern Pulsars

Scintillation of pulsar radio emission provides information about the interstellar medium along the path to the pulsar and the velocities of pulsars. It also affects the precision of pulse timing observations. Using a pulsar timing system developed at the Urumqi Astronomical Observatory25 m telescope, we observed diffractive scintillation dynamic spectra for several strong northern pulsars. This paper introduces the observing system and discusses the observational results. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Solar Wind Electron Parameters from Ulysses/URAP Quasi-Thermal Noise Measurements at Solar Maximum

We present the solar wind plasma parameters obtained from the Ulysses spacecraft during its second pole-to-pole fast latitude scan near the 2001 solar maximum. We study the solar wind properties from the electron density and core temperature measurements made by the radio receiver on Ulysses using the method of quasi-thermal noise spectroscopy. We analyze these parameters as functions of heliographic latitude and distance. We present their histograms normalized to 1 AU and find a bimodal distribution for the electron core temperature. The cooler population can be associated with the fast wind flow emanating from coronal holes present at various latitudes. We discuss a slight north/south asymmetry found for the electron density. Finally, we compare the present results to those obtained during the 1996 solar minimum and 1991 solar maximum.     

Mapping Solar Wind Streams from the Sun to 1 AU: A Comparison of Techniques

A variety of techniques exist for mapping solar wind plasma and magnetic field measurements from one location to another in the heliosphere. Such methods are either applied to extrapolate solar data or coronal model results from near the Sun to 1 AU (or elsewhere), or to map in-situ observations back to the Sun. In this study, we estimate the sensitivity of four models for evolving solar wind streams from the Sun to 1 AU. In order of increasing complexity, these are: i) ballistic extrapolation; ii) ad hoc kinematic mapping; iii) 1-D upwinding propagation; and iv) global heliospheric MHD modeling. We also consider the effects of the interplanetary magnetic field on the evolution of the stream structure. The upwinding technique is a new, simplified method that bridges the extremes of ballistic extrapolation and global heliospheric MHD modeling. It can match the dynamical evolution captured by global models, but is almost as simple to implement and as fast to run as the ballistic approximation.     

Comparative Solar Seeing and Scintillation Studies at the Fuxian Lake Solar Station

Starting November 1999 we are carrying out simultaneous seeing observations with the Solar Differential Image Motion Monitor (S-DIMM) at the Fuxian Lake station of the Yunnan Observatory and a solar scintillometer of the type used in the recent site survey by one of us (Beckers et al., 1997). The purpose was to compare the two methods of assessing the daytime atmospheric seeing for a lake site. We report here the first results of this comparison. We find that the relation between the seeing as measured by the S-DIMM (the Fried parameter r ₀) and the scintillation in the solar irradiance (_I) differs greatly from the relation found by Seykora (1993) for NSO/Sac Peak. We conclude that the _I measurements give a good indication for the amount of near-Earth seeing but that they are a poor proxy for the total atmospheric seeing. We interpret the simultaneous (r ₀, _I) observations in terms of an atmospheric seeing model and find good quantitative agreement with a model in which a fraction () of the seeing originated near the Earth (ground or water) and the rest (1–) originates at higher layers. For lake sites is small all day and the seeing is determined primarily by the refractive index variations at higher atmospheric layers. For land sites is small in the early morning but rapidly increases as the day progresses, near-Earth seeing dominating there most of the time.