Stream Interactions and Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections at 0.72 AU

We present comprehensive surveys of 203 stream interaction regions (SIRs) and 124 interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) during 1979 – 1988 using Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) in situ solar-wind observations at 0.72 AU and examine the solar-cycle variations of the occurrence rate, shock association rate, duration, width, maximum total perpendicular pressure (P _t), maximum dynamic pressure, maximum magnetic field intensity, and maximum velocity change of these two large-scale solar-wind structures. The medians, averages, and histogram distributions of these parameters are also reported. Furthermore, we sort ICMEs into three groups based on the temporal profiles of P _t, and we investigate the variations of the fractional occurrence rate of three groups of ICMEs with solar activity. We find that the fractional occurrence rate of magnetic-cloud-like ICMEs declined with solar activity, consistent with our former 1-AU results. This study at 0.72 AU provides a point of comparison in the inner heliosphere for examining the radial evolution of SIRs and ICMEs. The width of SIRs and ICMEs increases by 0.04 and 0.1 AU, respectively, and the maximum P _t decreases to about 1/3 from Venus to Earth orbit. In addition, our work establishes the statistical properties of the solar-wind conditions at 0.72 AU that control the solar-wind interaction with Venus and its atmosphere loss by related processes. Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Stream Interactions and Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections at 5.3 AU near the Solar Ecliptic Plane

We have performed a survey of the characteristics of two types of large spatial-scale solar-wind structures, stream interaction regions (SIRs), and interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), near 5.3 AU, using solar-wind observations from Ulysses. Our study is confined to the three aphelion passes of Ulysses, and also within ± 10° of the solar ecliptic plane, covering a part of 1992, 1997 – 1998, and 2003 – 2005, representing three slices of different phases of the solar activity cycle. Overall, there are 54 SIRs and 60 ICMEs in the survey. Many are merged in hybrid events, suggesting that they have undergone multiple interactions prior to reaching Jovian orbit. About 91% of SIRs occur with shocks, with 47% of such shocks being forward – reverse shock pairs. The solar-wind velocity sometimes stays constant or even decreases within the interaction region near 5.3 AU, in contrast with the gradual velocity increase during SIRs at 1 AU. Shocks are driven by 58% of ICMEs, with 94% of them being forward shocks. Some ICMEs seem to have multiple small flux ropes with different scales and properties. We quantitatively compare various properties of SIRs and ICMEs at 5.3 AU, and study their statistical distributions and variations with solar activity. The width, maximum dynamic pressure, and peak perpendicular pressure of SIRs all become larger than ICMEs. Dynamic pressure (P _dyn) is expected to be important for Jovian magnetospheric activity. We have examined the distributions of P _dyn of SIRs, ICMEs, and general solar wind, but these cannot explain the observed bimodal distribution of the location of the Jovian magnetopause. By comparing the properties of SIRs and ICMEs at 0.72, 1, and 5.3 AU, we find that the ICME expansion slows down significantly between 1 and 5.3 AU. Some transient and small streams in the inner heliosphere have merged into a single interaction region. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

ACE Observations of the Bastille Day 2000 Interplanetary Disturbances

We present ACE observations for the six-day period encompassing the Bastille Day 2000 solar activity. A high level of transient activity at 1 AU, including ICME-driven shocks, magnetic clouds, shock-accelerated energetic particle populations, and solar energetic ions and electrons, are described. We present thermal ion composition signatures for ICMEs and magnetic clouds from which we derive electron temperatures at the source of the disturbances and we describe additional enhancements in some ion species that are clearly related to the transient source. We describe shock acceleration of 0.3–2.0 MeV nucl⁻¹ protons and minor ions and the relative inability of some of the shocks to accelerate significant energetic ion populations near 1 AU. We report the characteristics of < 20 MeV nucl⁻¹ solar energetic ions and < 0.32 MeV electrons and attempt to relate the release of energetic electrons to particular source regions.     

Properties of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections at One AU During 1995 – 2004

We present a comprehensive survey of 230 interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) during 1995 – 2004 using Wind and ACE in situ observations near one AU, and examine the solar-cycle variation of the occurrence rate, shock association rate, scale size, velocity change, and other properties of ICMEs. The ICME occurrence rate increases (from 5 in 1996 to 40 in 2001) with solar activity; and 66% of all ICMEs occurred with shock(s). A compound parameter, the total pressure perpendicular to the magnetic field (Pt), i.e., the sum of magnetic and perpendicular plasma thermal pressures, assists us in effectively distinguishing ICMEs from other solar-wind structures such as stream interactions, and in quantifying the interaction strength. We interpret the characteristic signatures of the Pt temporal variation in terms of the inferred distance perpendicular to the flow to the center of the obstacle. Group 1 includes events that appear to be traversed near the ICME center, showing an apparent enhanced central Pt; Group 3 represents ICMEs passed far away from the center, displaying a rapid rise and then gradual decay in Pt; and Group 2 includes events with intermediate signatures. About 36% of 198 classifiable ICMEs are Group 1 events, consistent with the conventional wisdom that at one AU a magnetic cloud is found during crossings of only ~1/3 of ICMEs. Our set of Group 1 ICMEs and the set of magnetic clouds from other researchers have significant overlap and a similar solar-cycle dependence. The rough decline of the Group 1 fraction as solar activity increases, is consistent with rough increases of scale size, shock percentage, and peak Pt. These results call into question the need to have different mechanisms to create differently appearing ICMEs. Rather it is possible that all ICMEs have a central flux rope that is traversed about 33% of the time, but in the majority of cases is missed by the spacecraft. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

The Bastille day Shocks and Merged Interaction Region

Near 1 AU the solar wind structure associated with the solar flare of 14 July 2000 (Bastille Day) consisted of a large high-speed stream of 15 July and five nearby small streams during a 10-day period. At the leading edge of the large high-speed stream, in less than 6 hours, the flow speed increased from 600 km s⁻¹ to 1100 km s⁻¹, the magnetic field intensity increased from 10 nT to 60 nT, and an interaction region was identified. The interaction region was bounded between the pair of a forward shock F and a reverse shock R. Additional forward shocks were also identified at the leading edge of each of the five smaller streams. This paper presents a magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation using ACE plasma and magnetic field data near 1 AU as input to study the radial evolution of the Bastille Day solar wind event. The two shocks, F and R, propagated in opposite directions away from each other in the solar wind frame and interacted with neighboring shocks and streams; the spatial and temporal extent of the interaction region continued to increase with the heliocentric distance. The solar wind was restructured from a series of streams at 1 AU to a huge merged interaction region (MIR) extending over a period of 12 days at 5.5 AU. Throughout the interior of the MIR bounded by the shock pair F and R the magnetic field intensity was a few times stronger than that outside the MIR. The simulation shows how merging of shocks, collision of shocks, and formation of new shocks contributed to the evolution process.     

Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections Observed by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ulysses</Emphasis> Through Its Three Solar Orbits

An extended Ulysses interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) list is used to statistically study the occurrence rate of ICMEs, the interaction of ICMEs with solar wind, and the magnetic field properties in ICMEs. About 43% of the ICMEs are identified as magnetic clouds (MCs). It is found that the occurrence rate of ICMEs approximately follows the solar activity level, except for the second solar orbit; the rate is higher in the southern heliolatitude than in the northern heliolatitude; and it roughly decreases with the increase of ICME speeds. Our results show that the speed difference between the ICME and the solar wind in front of it shows a slight decrease with increasing heliocentric distance for ICMEs preceded by a shock, whereas no such dependence is found for the ICMEs without shock association. It is also found that approximately 23% of the ICMEs are associated with radial field events, in which the interplanetary magnetic field with near-radial direction lasts for many hours, in the Ulysses detected range, and these associated events are not necessarily confined to fast ICMEs or the trailing portions of ICMEs. Nearly all these associated events occur during the period of declining solar wind speed and most of them occur at low heliolatitudes.     

Evolution of fast and slow shock interactions in the inner heliosphere

We use a one-dimensional, time-dependent adaptive grid MHD code to study the interaction between fast and slow shocks in the solar wind. Our results show that: (1) a forward slow shock (FSS) can be destroyed by a forward fast shock (FFS) that overtakes it from behind; (2) two propagating FSSs can merge into a stronger FSS; (3) a strong FSS can survive by following a strong forward fast shock; and (4) the strength of a FSS is decreased by following an FFS. These simulation results reproduce an important feature of the Helios observations (Richter, 1987) where transient fast shocks were more frequently followed within a few hours by slow shock ype discontinuities rather than by fast reverse shocks.     

Statistical Comparison of Magnetic Clouds with Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections for Solar Cycle 23

We compare the number and characteristics of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) to those of magnetic clouds (MCs) by using in-situ solar wind plasma and magnetic field observations made at 1 AU during solar cycle 23. We found that ≈ 28% of ICMEs appear to contain MCs, since 103 magnetic clouds (MCs) occurred during 1995  – 2006, and 307 ICMEs occurred during 1996 – 2006. For the period between 1996 and 2006, 85 MCs are identified as part of ICMEs, and six MCs are not associated with ICMEs, which conflicts with the idea that MCs are usually a subset of ICMEs. It was also found that solar wind conditions inside MCs and ICMEs are usually similar, but the linear correlation between geomagnetic storm intensity (Dst _min) and relevant solar wind parameters is better for MCs than for ICMEs. The differences between average event duration (Δt) and average proton plasma β (〈β〉) are two of the major differences between MCs and ICMEs: i) the average duration of ICMEs (29.6 h) is 44% longer than for MCs (20.6 hours), and ii) the average of 〈β〉 is 0.01 for MCs and 0.24 for ICMEs. The difference between the definition of a MC and that for an ICME is one of the major reasons for these average characteristics being different (i.e., listed above as items i) and ii)), and it is the reason for the frequency of their occurrences being different.     

The evolution of co‐orbiting material in the orbit of 2201 Oljato from 1980 to 2012 as deduced from Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Venus Express magnetic records

Asteroid 2201 Oljato passed through perihelion inside the orbit of Venus near the time of its conjunction with Venus in 1980, 1983, and 1986. During those three years, many interplanetary field enhancements (IFEs) were observed by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) in the longitude sector where the orbit of Oljato lies inside Venus' orbit. We attribute IFEs to clouds of fine‐scale, possibly highly charged dust picked up by the solar wind after an interplanetary collision between objects in the diameter range of 10–1000 m. We interpret the increase rate in IFEs at PVO in these years as due to material in Oljato's orbit colliding with material in, or near to, Venus' orbital plane and producing a dust‐anchored structure in the interplanetary magnetic field. In March 2012, almost 30 yr later, with Venus Express (VEX) now in orbit, the Oljato‐Venus geometry is similar to the one in 1980. Here, we compare IFEs detected by VEX and PVO using the same IFE identification criteria. We find an evolution with time of the IFE rate. In contrast to the results in the 1980s, the recent VEX observations reveal that at solar longitudes in which the Oljato orbit is inside that of Venus, the IFE rate is reduced to the level even below the rate seen at solar longitudes where Oljato's orbit is outside that of Venus. This observation implies that Oljato not only lost its co‐orbiting material but also disrupted the “target material,” with which the co‐orbiting material was colliding, near Venus.     

MHD study of temporal and spatial evolution of simulated interplanetary shocks in the ecliptic plane within 1 AU

We utilize a 21/2-D MHD time-dependent model to perform a parametric study of interplanetary shock propagation to 1 AU. The input conditions are represented by the following variables:(1) initial shock velocity, (2) duration of the driving pulse, and (3) width of the pulse at the near-Sun position (18 solar radii). The total net energy added to the solar wind was calculated for each pulse. The forward shock's travel time to, and the peak dynamic pressure at, 1 AU as a function of location along the shock front have been studied over a range of total input pulse energies from 10²⁹ to 10³² ergs. For input pulses with modest angular width and temporal duration, we find that the propagation of the resulting interplanetary fast forward shock waves depends primarily upon the net input energy. The dependence of the transit time upon energy is a power law with a -1/3 index which corresponds to the classical, piston driven case. Reverse shocks are also formed behind all but the lowest energy shocks. Their properties, although also a function of input energy, depend upon the specific values of the input pulse shock velocity, width and duration. We also briefly discuss the propagation of the shocks out to 1 AU, and the conditions for which the interplanetary shocks depart from being symmetric about the input pulse central meridian due to magnetic and dynamic effects.     

Tracking a Ulysses High-latitude ICME Event Back to Its Solar Origins

High-latitude interplanetary mass ejections (ICMEs) observed beyond 1 AU are not studied very often. They are useful for improving our understanding of the 3D heliosphere. As there are only few such events registered by the Ulysses spacecraft, the task of detecting their solar counterparts is a challenge, especially during high solar activity periods, because there are dozens coronal mass ejections (CMEs) registered by SOHO that might be chosen as candidates. We analyzed a high-latitude ICME registered by the Ulysses spacecraft on 18 January 2002. Our investigation focused on the correlation between various plasma parameters that allow the identification to be made of the ICME and its components such as the forward shock, the magnetic cloud and the reverse shock.     

Dependence of the Characteristics of Solar Wind Discontinuities and Shocks with Heliolatitude and Radial Distance

The distribution of the shocks in the heliosphere and their characteristic variations are investigated using Ulysses observations. The jumps in solar wind velocity, IMF magnitude, and proton density across the shocks and discontinuities are evaluated and used to characterize them. The distribution of these discontinuities with respect to heliolatitude ± 80° and with radial distance 1 to 5 AU are analyzed during solar minimum and solar maximum to understand their global behavior. It is noticed that the jumps in solar wind parameters associated with shocks and discontinuities are more prominent during the second orbit of Ulysses, which coincided with the maximum phase of solar activity.     

Comparison of Observations at ACE and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ulysses</Emphasis> with Enlil Model Results: Stream Interaction Regions During Carrington Rotations 2016 – 2018

During the latitudinal alignment in 2004, ACE and Ulysses encountered two stream interaction regions (SIRs) each Carrington rotation from 2016 to 2018, at 1 and 5.4 AU, respectively. More SIR-driven shocks were observed at 5.4 AU than at 1 AU. Three small SIRs at 1 AU merged to form a strong SIR at 5.4 AU. We compare the Enlil model results with spacecraft observations from four aspects: i) the accuracy of the latest versions of models (WSA v2.2 and Enlil v2.7) vs. old versions (WSA v1.6 and Enlil v2.6), ii) the sensitivity to different solar magnetograms (MWO vs. NSO), iii) the sensitivity to different coronal models (WSA vs. MAS), iv) the predictive capability at 1 AU vs. 5.4 AU. We find the models can capture field sector boundaries with some time offset. Although the new versions have improved the SIR timing prediction, the time offset can be up to two days at 1 AU and four days at 5.4 AU. The models cannot capture some small-scale structures, including shocks and small SIRs at 1 AU. For SIRs, the temperature and total pressure are often underestimated, while the density compression is overestimated. For slow wind, the density is usually overestimated, while the temperature, magnetic field, and total pressure are often underestimated. The new versions have improved the prediction of the speed and density, but they need more robust scaling factors for magnetic field. The Enlil model results are very sensitive to different solar magnetograms and coronal models. It is hard to determine which magnetogram-coronal model combination is superior to others. Higher-resolution solar and coronal observations, a mission closer to the Sun, together with simulations of greater resolution and added physics, are ways to make progress for the solar wind modeling.     

Comparing Solar Minimum 23/24 with Historical Solar Wind Records at 1 AU

Based on the variations of sunspot numbers, we choose a 1-year interval at each solar minimum from the beginning of the acquisition of solar wind measurements in the ecliptic plane and at 1 AU. We take the period of July 2008??C?June 2009 to represent the solar minimum between Solar Cycles 23 and 24. In comparison with the previous three minima, this solar minimum has the slowest, least dense, and coolest solar wind, and the weakest magnetic field. As a result, the solar wind dynamic pressure, dawn?Cdusk electric field, and geomagnetic activity during this minimum are the weakest among the four minima. The weakening trend had already appeared during solar minimum 22/23, and it may continue into the next solar minimum. During this minimum, the galactic cosmic ray intensity reached the highest level in the space age, while the number of solar energetic proton events and the ground level enhancement events were the least. Using solar wind measurements near the Earth over 1995??C?2009, we have surveyed and characterized the large-scale solar wind structures, including fast-slow stream interaction regions (SIRs), interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), and interplanetary shocks. Their solar cycle variations over the 15 years are studied comprehensively. In contrast with the previous minimum, we find that there are more SIRs and they recur more often during this minimum, probably because more low- and mid-latitude coronal holes and active regions emerged due to the weaker solar polar field than during the previous minimum. There are more shocks during this solar minimum, probably caused by the slower fast magnetosonic speed of the solar wind. The SIRs, ICMEs, and shocks during this minimum are generally weaker than during the previous minimum, but did not change as much as did the properties of the undisturbed solar wind.     

Correlation of ICME Magnetic Fields at Radially Aligned Spacecraft

The magnetic field structures of two interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), each observed by a pair of spacecraft close to radial alignment, have been analysed. The ICMEs were observed in situ by MESSENGER and STEREO-B in November 2010 and November 2011, while the spacecraft were separated by more than 0.6 AU in heliocentric distance, less than 4° in heliographic longitude, and less than 7° in heliographic latitude. Both ICMEs took approximately two days to travel between the spacecraft. The ICME magnetic field profiles observed at MESSENGER have been mapped to the heliocentric distance of STEREO-B and compared directly to the profiles observed by STEREO-B. Figures that result from this mapping allow for easy qualitative assessment of similarity in the profiles. Macroscale features in the profiles that varied on timescales of one hour, and which corresponded to the underlying flux rope structure of the ICMEs, were well correlated in the solar east–west and north–south directed components, with Pearson’s correlation coefficients of approximately 0.85 and 0.95, respectively; microscale features with timescales of one minute were uncorrelated. Overall correlation values in the profiles of one ICME were increased when an apparent change in the flux rope axis direction between the observing spacecraft was taken into account. The high degree of similarity seen in the magnetic field profiles may be interpreted in two ways. If the spacecraft sampled the same region of each ICME (i.e. if the spacecraft angular separations are neglected), the similarity indicates that there was little evolution in the underlying structure of the sampled region during propagation. Alternatively, if the spacecraft observed different, nearby regions within the ICMEs, it indicates that there was spatial homogeneity across those different regions. The field structure similarity observed in these ICMEs points to the value of placing in situ space weather monitors well upstream of the Earth.     

On the Aerodynamic Drag Force Acting on Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections

It is well known that the interaction of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) with the solar wind leads to an equalisation of the ICME and solar wind velocities at 1 AU. This can be understood in terms of an aerodynamic drag force per unit mass of the form F _D/M=−(ρ_e AC _D/M)(V _i−V _e)∣V _i−V _e∣, where A and M are the ICME cross-section and sum of the mass and virtual mass, V _i and V _e the speed of the ICME and solar wind, ρ_e the solar wind density, C _D a dimensionless drag coefficient, and the inverse deceleration length γ=ρ_e A/M. The optimal radial parameterisation of γ and C _D beyond approximately 15 solar radii is calculated. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that for dense ICMEs, C _D varies slowly between the Sun and 1 AU, and is of order unity. When the ICME and solar wind densities are similar, C _D is larger (between 3 and 10), but remains approximately constant with radial distance. For tenuous ICMEs, the ICME and solar wind velocities equalise rapidly due to the very effective drag force. For ICMEs denser that the ambient solar wind, both approaches show that γ is approximately independent of radius, while for tenuous ICMEs, γ falls off linearly with distance. When the ICME density is similar to or less than that in the solar wind, inclusion of virtual mass effects is essential.     

Evolution of fast and slow shock interactions in the inner heliosphere

We use a one-dimensional, time-dependent adaptive grid MHD code to study the interaction between fast and slow shocks in the solar wind. Our results show that: (1) a forward slow shock (FSS) can be destroyed by a forward fast shock (FFS) that overtakes it from behind; (2) two propagating FSSs can merge into a stronger FSS; (3) a strong FSS can survive by following a strong forward fast shock; and (4) the strength of a FSS is decreased by following an FFS. These simulation results reproduce an important feature of the Helios observations (Richter, 1987) where transient fast shocks were more frequently followed within a few hours by slow shock ype discontinuities rather than by fast reverse shocks.     

On Solar-Wind Electron Heating at Large Solar Distances

We study the temperature of electrons advected with the solar wind to large solar distances far beyond 1 AU. Almost nothing is known about the thermodynamics of these electrons from in-situ plasma observations at these distances, and usually it is tacitly assumed that electrons, due to adiabatic behaviour and vanishing heat conduction, rapidly cool off to very low temperatures at larger distances. In this article we show, however, that electrons on their way to large distances undergo non-adiabatic interactions with travelling shocks and solar-wind bulk-velocity jumps and thereby are appreciably heated. Examining this heating process on an average statistical basis, we find that solar-wind electrons first cool down to a temperature minimum, which depending on the occurrence frequency of bulk velocity jumps is located between 3 and 6 AU, but beyond this the lowest electron temperature again starts to increase with increasing solar distance, finally achieving temperatures of about 7×10⁴ K to 7×10⁵ K at the location of the termination shock. Hence these electrons are unexpectedly shown to play an important dynamical role in structuring this shock and in determining the downstream plasma properties.     

The Solar Connection of Enhanced Heavy Ion Charge States in the Interplanetary Medium: Implications for the Flux-Rope Structure of CMEs

We investigated a set of 54 interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) events whose solar sources are very close to the disk center (within ±?15^° from the central meridian). The ICMEs consisted of 23 magnetic-cloud (MC) events and 31 non-MC events. Our analyses suggest that the MC and non-MC ICMEs have more or less the same eruption characteristics at the Sun in terms of soft X-ray flares and CMEs. Both types have significant enhancements in ion charge states, although the non-MC structures have slightly lower levels of enhancement. The overall duration of charge-state enhancement is also considerably smaller than that in MCs as derived from solar wind plasma and magnetic signatures. We find very good correlation between the Fe and O charge-state measurements and the flare properties such as soft X-ray flare intensity and flare temperature for both MCs and non-MCs. These observations suggest that both MC and non-MC ICMEs are likely to have a flux-rope structure and the unfavorable observational geometry may be responsible for the appearance of non-MC structures at 1 AU. We do not find any evidence for an active region expansion resulting in ICMEs lacking a flux-rope structure because the mechanism of producing high charge states and the flux-rope structure at the Sun is the same for MC and non-MC events.