Multipoint observations of the dynamics of the sharp solar wind structure boundaries

In this paper we performed the selection of sharp and large solar wind ion flux changes and comparison of them by simultaneous observations onboard two or three spacecraft. It was shown that these sharp changes survive on the way up to million km or even sharpen on this way.     

The magnetohydrodynamic turbulent cascade in the ecliptic solar wind: Study of Ulysses data

The occurrence of a nonlinear turbulent energy cascade in solar wind plasma has been recently established through the observation of an exact law from spacecraft measurements. The main results obtained in the fast, polar wind measured by Ulysses spacecraft are reviewed here. In particular, the turbulent cascade is seen as the mean to provide the energy necessary for the local heating in the non-adiabatic expansion of the solar wind. The importance of the density fluctuations in enhancing the turbulent energy transport is also evidenced. The ecliptic wind data measured by Ulysses are studied here in the same framework. This has been done by separating fast and slow streams, in order to avoid mixing of different physical conditions. The results further support the need for separate analysis of the two types of wind.     

High kinetic energy density jets in the Earth’s magnetosheath: A case study

We study several high kinetic energy density jets observed during a traversal of the dayside magnetosheath by the Cluster spacecraft on March 17, 2001, at various distances from the magnetopause, generally characterised by anomalously high values of the local magnetosonic Mach number. We concentrate on two jets observed just outside the magnetopause, the first almost parallel to the GSM x axis and the second directed northward-tailward along the nominal magnetopause surface. We present evidence that none of them can be ascribed to magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause and show that the magnetopause is severely deformed by the jets, so that its local normal forms an angle of 97° with the quiet time magnetopause normal. On these grounds, we suggest that the indentation of the magnetopause is caused by an anti-sunward jet ramming into the magnetopause slightly equatorward of the northern cusp and that the northward-tailward jet is the result of its reflection at the deformed magnetopause. Finally, we briefly discuss our results by comparing them with past studies of events which in some way recall the one analysed herein.     

Scaling laws and coherent structures in the solar wind

The interplanetary medium is characterized by a very high Reynolds number and is pervaded by fluctuations providing information on a wide range of scales, from fractions of second up to the solar rotation period. In the past decade or so, turbulence in the solar wind has been used as a large wind tunnel to investigate scaling laws of turbulent fluctuations and multifractal models. Moreover, new interesting insights in the theory of turbulence have been derived from the point of view which considers a turbulent flow as a complex system, a sort of benchmark for the theory of dynamical systems. Important finding like the lack of a strict self-similarity of the fluctuations with the consequent nonapplicability of strict scale invariance, the strong anisotropy of velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, the clear lack of equipartition between magnetic and kinetic fluctuations all contributed to suggest the idea that interplanetary fluctuations could possibly be due to a mixture of propagating waves and static structures convected by the wind. In this paper we further discuss this point and bring new evidence about the fact that the presence of a background magnetic field introduces not only a symmetry breaking in interplanetary space but also organizes fluctuations about its large scale orientation.     

Geoeffectiveness of magnetic clouds occurred during solar cycle 23

Highly variable conditions prevail in the geospace environment due to the variations in Solar activity. The characteristics of the magnetic clouds (MCs) and their effects on geosphere, which have occurred during the period January 1996 to December 2006; have been investigated. No systematic trend has been observed between MCs and Solar activity cycle which is analyzed on the basis of maximum Sunspot number in that particular year. 85% MCs are found to be geoeffective. MCs are divided into two major classes: unipolar and bipolar. Unipolar MCs are of south (S) or north (N) type while bipolar MCs are of south-north (SN) or north-south (NS) type. During Solar cycle 23, SN-type MCs dominated over NS-type MCs. Highly intense geomagnetic storms (GMSs) of Dst <−300 nT follow from SN or S-type MCs. No preference is observed for right handed (RH) or left handed (LH) clouds for being geoeffective. MCs of very high speed lead to intense GMSs. The correlation coefficient (r) of southward component of magnetic field (Bz), total magnetic field (B) and their products with plasma flow speed (VB and VBz) with Dst are observed to be r=0.78, −0.81, −0.79 and 0.82, respectively, which suggests that these parameters are reliable indicators of the strength of GMS. SN clouds do not always lead to more fall in Dst value (or lead to high strength of GMS) than NS clouds for similar value of Bz minimum associated with both type of MCs.     

Strong interplanetary field enhancements at Ulysses—evidence of dust trails' interaction with the solar wind?

Interplanetary field enhancements were first discovered in the vicinity of Venus. These events are characterised by an increase in the magnitude of the heliospheric magnetic field with a near-symmetrical, sometimes thorn-shaped profile, and last from minutes to hours. Surveys of the events near Venus and Earth indicated clustering of the events in inertial space, which suggested that their sources were Solar System objects other than the Sun. A survey is presented of strong events of this type detected by the Ulysses spacecraft from 1990 to late 2001. Most of the events are accompanied by a discontinuity in the field direction near the events' centres. Other discontinuities are often symmetrical about the enhancement. The majority of events last less than two hours. When examined as a whole, the events tend to be accompanied by subtle changes in some plasma parameters. The majority of the enhancements are accompanied by magnetic holes on their fringes. The enhancements' occurrence rate increases with decreasing heliocentric distance. Possible formation mechanisms are discussed. No link was found with solar, or solar wind sources. Several aspects of the survey results are consistent with an origin related to cometary dust trails. Possible processes associated with a dust-solar wind interaction are discussed.     

Geoeffectiveness of magnetic cloud, shock/sheath, interaction region, high-speed stream and their combined occurrence

A subset of CMEs, called interplanetary magnetic clouds (MCs), are observed to have systematic rotation [northward to southward (NS) or southward to northward (SN)] in their field structures. These MCs identified in the heliospheric plasma and field data at 1 AU may have different features associated with them. These structures (NS/SN) may be isolated MC moving with the ambient solar wind. MCs (NS/SN) may also be associated with shock/sheath region, formed due to compression of the ambient plasma/field ahead of them. A fraction from each of these four types of MCs have additional features, being ‘pushed’ by fast solar wind streams from coronal holes, forming interaction region (IR) between MCs and high-speed solar wind streams (HSS). Using these different sets of MCs, we have done a detailed study of the geoeffectiveness of NS and SN turning MCs and their associated features (shock/sheath, IR and HSS). To study the process that produces the geomagnetic disturbances and influences its amplitude/duration, we have utilized the interplanetary plasma and field parameters, namely, plasma velocity, density, temperature, pressure, field strength and its north-south component, during the passage of these structures with different associated properties. Differences in the geoeffectiveness of MCs with different structural and dynamical properties have been identified. The possible role of high-speed stream in influencing the recovery time (and hence duration) of geomagnetic disturbance has also been investigated. A best-fit equation representing the relation between level of the geomagnetic activity (due to MCs) and interplanetary plasma/field parameter has been obtained.     

The kinetic nature of turbulence at short scales in the solar wind

The analysis of the transition from the large-scale fluid regime to the short-scale kinetic range of wavelengths in the development of the turbulent cascade of energy is nowadays subject of fervent discussion in the space plasmas scientific community. We make use of Hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell simulations where the full kinetic dynamics of ions is taken into account, while electrons are treated as a fluid. We investigate the development of turbulence in the solar wind, in 1D-3V phase space configuration and in the frequency range across the ion cyclotron frequency. These simulations allow for the analysis of the role of kinetic effects in the short-scale region of the energy spectra in the direction parallel to the background magnetic field. Our numerical results show the presence of a significant electrostatic activity at small wavelengths, triggered by the resonant interaction of ions with longitudinal waves. Our model does not allow to take into account the evolution of the turbulent spectra in the plane perpendicular to the ambient field, due to limited dimensionality in phase space. On the other hand, this model permits to isolate and study the possibility of transferring the electromagnetic large-scale energy on the small-scale kinetic electrostatic component of the spectrum. Peculiar features observed in the spacecraft data in the solar wind are qualitatively reproduced within the hybrid-Vlasov model, such as the generation of perpendicular temperature anisotropy and accelerated longitudinal beams of ions in the distribution of particle velocities as well as the appearance of a marked peak of electrostatic activity in the short-scale termination of the turbulent spectra.     

Magnetosonic waveguide model of solar wind flow tubes

We consider solar wind flow tubes as a magnetosonic wave-guide. Assuming a symmetric expansion in edges of slab-modelled wave-guide, we study the propagation characteristics of magnetosonic wave in the solar wind flow tubes. We present the preliminary results and discuss their implications.     

The space environment of Mercury at the times of the second and third MESSENGER flybys

The second and third flybys of Mercury by the MESSENGER spacecraft occurred, respectively, on 6 October 2008 and on 29 September 2009. In order to provide contextual information about the solar wind properties and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near the planet at those times, we have used an empirical modeling technique combined with a numerical physics-based solar wind model. The Wang–Sheeley–Arge (WSA) method uses solar photospheric magnetic field observations (from Earth-based instruments) in order to estimate the inner heliospheric radial flow speed and radial magnetic field out to 21.5 solar radii from the Sun. This information is then used as input to the global numerical magnetohydrodynamic model, ENLIL, which calculates solar wind velocity, density, temperature, and magnetic field strength and polarity throughout the inner heliosphere. WSA-ENLIL calculations are presented for the several-week period encompassing the second and third flybys. This information, in conjunction with available MESSENGER data, aid in understanding the Mercury flyby observations and provide a basis for global magnetospheric modeling. We find that during both flybys, the solar wind conditions were very quiescent and would have provided only modest dynamic driving forces for Mercury's magnetospheric system.     

MHD compressive turbulence in the solar wind and the nearly incompressible approach

At MHD scales density fluctuation in the solar wind generally have a relative amplitude less than 0.1. The nearly incompressible MHD theory would seem then appropriate to describe a major part of the compressive turbulence at these scales. As a test of the theory, we focus on the scaling properties of density fluctuations with turbulent Mach numbers and on the level of correlation between density and temperature fluctuations. Our findings do not appear in favour of an extended applicability of the nearly incompressible theory to MHD compressive turbulence in the solar wind.     

LOFAR: The potential for solar and space weather studies

The Low Frequency array (LOFAR) will be a next generation digital aperture synthesis radio telescope covering the frequency range from 10 to 240 MHz. The instrument will feature full polarisation and multi-beaming capability, and is currently in its design phase. This work highlights the solar, heliospheric and space weather applications where LOFAR, with its unique and unprecedented capabilities, can provide useful information inaccessible by any other means. The relevant aspects of the LOFAR baseline design are described, and the most promising techniques of interest are enumerated. These include tracking coronal mass ejections (CMEs) out to large distances using interplanetary scintillation (IPS) methods, tomographic reconstruction of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere using IPS, direct imaging of the radio emission from CMEs and finally possible Faraday rotation studies of the magnetic field structure of the heliosphere and the CMEs. This work is a part of an effort directed towards ensuring the compatibility of LOFAR design with solar and space weather applications, in collaboration with the wider community.     

Geo-effectiveness of solar wind extremes

Examples of extreme events of solar wind and their effect on geomagnetic conditions are discussed here. It is found that there are two regimes of high speed solar wind streams with a threshold of ∼ 850 km s^-1. Geomagnetic activity enhancement rate (GAER) is defined as an average increase in Ap value per unit average increase in the peak solar wind velocity (Vp) during the stream. GAER was found to be different in the two regimes of high speed streams with +ve and-ve IMF. GAER is 0.73 and 0.53 for solar wind streams with +ve and -ve IMF respectively for the extremely high speed streams (< 850 km s^-1). This indicates that streams above the threshold speed with +ve IMF are 1.4 times more effective in enhancing geomagnetic activity than those with -ve IMF. However, the high speed streams below the threshold with -ve IMF are 1.1 times more effective in enhancing geomagnetic activity than those with +ve IMF. The violent solar activity period (October–November 2003) of cycle 23 presents a very special case during which many severe and strong effects were seen in the environment of the Earth and other planets; however, the z-component of IMF (Bz) is mostly positive during this period. The most severe geomagnetic storm of this cycle occurred when Bz was positive.     

Manifestation of the 399-day variations in solar wind parameters

Astronomy Letters - Based on a large series (N = 14 038) of daily solar wind densities, we obtained the fluctuation power spectrum. The spectrum shows that the 399-day variation (the synodic period...     

Statistical relationship between solar wind conditions and geomagnetic storms in 1998-2008

Applying ACE data and pressure-corrected Dst index (Dst*), annual distributions of solar wind structures detected at L1 point (the first Lagrangian point between solar-terrestrial interval) and correlations between solar wind structures and geomagnetic storms in 1998-2008 have been studied. It was found that, within the Earth's upstream solar wind, the dominant feature was interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), primarily magnetic clouds, during solar maximum period but corotating interaction regions (CIRs) at solar minimum. During rising and declining phases, solar wind features became unstable for the complicated solar corona transition processes between the maximum and minimum phases, and there was a high CIR occurrence rate in 2003, the early period of the declining phase, for the Earth's upstream solar wind was dominated by high-speed southern coronal-hole outflows at that time. The occurrence rate of sector boundary crossing (SBC) events was evidently higher at the late half of declining phase and minimum period. ICMEs mainly centered on the maximum period but CIRs on all the declining phase. The occurrence rate of ICMEs was 1.3 times of that of CIRs, and more than half of ICMEs were magnetic clouds (MCs). Half of magnetic clouds could drive interplanetary shock and played a crucial role for geomagnetic storms generation, especially intense storms (Dst*≤100 nT), in which 45% were jointly induced by sheath region and driving MC structure. Sixty percent of intense storms were totally induced by shock-driving MCs; moreover, 74% of intense storms were driven by magnetic clouds, 81% of them driven by ICMEs. Shock-driving MC was the most geoeffective interplanetary source for four fifths of it able to lead to storms and more than one-third to intense storms. The rest of intense storms (19%) were induced just by 3% of all detected CIRs, and most of CIRs (53%) were corresponding to nearly 40% moderate and small storms (−100 nT<Dst*≤−30 nT). The true sector boundary crossing (SBC) events actually had no obvious geoeffectiveness, just 6% of them corresponding to small storms.     

Slow solar wind: Sources and components of the stream structure at the solar maximum

We study the sources and components of the solar-wind spatial stream structure at the maximum of the solar cycle 23. In our analysis, we use several independent sets of experimental data: radio-astronomical observations of scattered radiation from compact sources with the determination of the distance from the Sun to the inner boundary of the transonic-flow transition region (R_in); calculated data on the magnetic-field intensity and structure in the solar corona, in the solar-wind source region, obtained from optical measurements of the photospheric magnetic-field intensity at the Stanford Solar Observatory (USA); and observations of the white-light corona with the LASCO coronograph onboard the SOHO spacecraft. We show that at the solar maximum, low-speed streams with a transition region located far from the Sun dominate in the solar-wind structure. A correlation analysis of the location of the inner boundary R_in and the source-surface magnetic-field intensity |B _R | on a sphere R=2.5R_S (R_S is the solar radius) has revealed the previously unknown lowest-speed streams, which do not fit into the regular relationship between the parameters R_in and |B _R |. In the white-light corona, the sources of these streams are located near the dark strip, a coronal region with a greatly reduced density; the nonstandard parameters of the streams probably result from the interaction of several discrete sources of different types.     

Heavy ion escape from Mars, influence from solar wind conditions and crustal magnetic fields

We have used more than 4 years of Mars Express ion data to estimate the escape of heavy ions ( and ) from Mars. To take the limited field of view of the instrument into account, the data has been binned into spatial bins and angular bins to create average distribution functions for different positions in the near Mars space. The net escape flux for the studied low solar activity period, between May 2007 and May 2011, is 2.0 ± 0.2 × 10²⁴ s⁻¹. The escape has been calculated independently for four different quadrants in the Y_MSO − Z_MSO plane, south, dusk, north and dawn. Escape is highest from the northern and dusk quadrants, 0.6 ± 0.1 × 10²⁴ s⁻¹, and smallest from the south and dawn quadrants, 0.4 ± 0.1 × 10²⁴ s⁻¹. The flux ratio of molecular ( and ) to O⁺ ions is 0.9 ± 0.1, averaged over all quadrants. The flux difference between the north and south quadrants is statistically significant, and is presumed to be due to the presence of significant crustal magnetic fields in the southern hemisphere, reducing the outflow. The difference between the dawn and dusk quadrants is likely due to the magnetic tension associated with the nominal Parker angle spiral, which should lead to higher average magnetic tension on the dusk side. The escape increases during periods of high solar wind flux and during times when co-rotating interaction regions (CIR) affect Mars. In the latter case the increase is a factor 2.4-2.9 as compared to average conditions.     

Interplanetary turbulences causing unusual anisotropic wave trains in cosmic rays

The various observed harmonics of the cosmic ray variation may be understood on a unified basis if the free space cosmic ray anisotropy is non-sinusoidal in form. The major objective of this paper is to study the first three harmonics of high amplitude wave trains of cosmic ray intensity over the period 1991–1994 for Deep River Neutron Monitoring Station. The main characteristic of these events is that the high amplitude wave trains shows a maximum intensity of diurnal component in a direction earlier than 1800 Hr/co-rotational direction. It is noticed that these events are not caused either by the high-speed solar wind streams or by the sources on the Sun responsible for producing these streams such as polar coronal holes. The direction of semi-diurnal anisotropy shows negative correlation with Bz. The occurrence of high amplitude events is dominant for the positive polarity of Bz component of IMF. The diurnal amplitude of these events shows a negative and the time of maximum shows a weak correlation with disturbance storm time index Dst. The direction of tri-diurnal anisotropy of these events is found to significantly correlate with geomagnetic activity index Ap.     

An axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic model for the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium

We numerically analyze a magnetohydrodynamic, steady-state model for the interaction of a spherically symmetric solar wind with a three-component local interstellar medium (LISM), which is composed of plasma, hydrogen atoms, and a magnetic field. The magnetic field is assumed to be parallel to the velocity in the LISM. In this case, the model is axisymmetric. We study the effects of magnetic field on the plasma-flow geometry and on the distribution of hydrogen-atom parameters. In particular, we show that the presence of hydrogen atoms does not affect the qualitative change in the shape of the bow shock, the heliopause, and the solar-wind shock with increasing strength of the interstellar magnetic field. The presence of a magnetic field in the LISM can strongly affect the parameters of the energetic hydrogen atoms originated in the solar wind, although its effect on the “hydrogen wall” observed with the GHRS instrument onboard the HST spacecraft (Linsky and Wood 1996) is marginal.     

Ion escape from Mars as a function of solar wind conditions: A statistical study

The influence of solar EUV and solar wind conditions on ion escape at Mars is investigated using ion data from the Aspera-3 instrument on Mars Express, combined with solar wind proxy data obtained from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. A solar EUV flux proxy based on data from the Earth position, scaled and shifted in time for Mars, is used to study relatively long time scale changes related to solar EUV variability. Data from May 2004 until November 2005 has been used. A clear dependence on the strength of the subsolar magnetic field as inferred from MGS measurements is seen in the ion data. The region of significant heavy ion flows is compressed and the heavy ion flux density is higher for high subsolar magnetic field strength. Because of the difference in outflow area, the difference in estimated total outflow is somewhat less than the difference in average flux density. We confirm previous findings that escaping planetary ions are mainly seen in the hemisphere into which the solar wind electric field is pointed. The effect is more pronounced for the high subsolar magnetic field case.The average ion motion has a consistent bias towards the direction of the solar wind electric field, but the main motion is in the antisunward direction. The antisunward flow velocity increases with tailward distance, reaching above at 2 to 3 martian radii downtail from Mars for O⁺ ions. Different ion species reach approximately the same bulk flow energy. We did not find any clear correlation between the solar EUV flux and the ion escape distribution or rate, probably because the variation of the solar EUV flux over our study interval was too small. The results indicate that the solar wind and its magnetic field directly interacts with the ionosphere of Mars, removing more ions for high subsolar magnetic field strength. The interaction region and the tail heavy ion flow region are not perfectly shielded from the solar wind electric field, which accelerates particles over relatively large tail distances.