Structure of solar-wind streams at the maximum of solar cycle 23

We study the formation of solar-wind streams in the years of maximum solar activity 2000–2002. We use observations of the scattering of radio emission by solar-wind streams at distances of ～4–60R_S from the Sun, data on the magnetic field structure and strength in the source region (R ～ 2.5R_S), and observations with the LASCO coronagraph onboard the SOHO spacecraft. Analysis of these data allowed us to investigate the changes in the structure of circumsolar plasma streams during the solar maximum. We constructed radio maps of the solar-wind transition, transonic region in which the heliolatitudinal stream structure is compared with the structure of the white-light corona. We show that the heliolatitudinal structure of the white-light corona largely determines the structure of the solar-wind transition region. We analyze the correlation between the location of the inner boundary of the transition region R_in and the magnetic field strength on the source surface |B_R|. We discuss the peculiarities of the R_in = F(|B_R|) correlation diagrams that distinguish them from similar diagrams at previous phases of the solar cycle.