Two-velocity structure observed in the inner solar wind

Measurements of the motion of plasma density inhomogeneities in the inner solar wind are presented. The speeds were estimated using a cross-correlation analysis of radio frequency fluctuations of the Galileo spacecraft measured simultaneously at widely spaced ground stations. The radial projections of the correlation baselines on the pattern plane were of the order of several thousand kilometers. For cross-correlation functions calculated with comparatively short averaging times, we find that a pronounced two-velocity configuration is occasionally observed over the range of heliocentric distances 20 R < R < 40 R. The typical mean speed for such observations is about 300–400 km/s and the difference between the two predominant speeds is about 150–200 km/s. These results may indicate that the density fluctuations are associated with slow magnetosonic waves propagating in opposite directions at the local speed of sound in the reference frame moving with the mean solar wind speed. Quite reasonable estimates of the solar wind speed and speed of sound are obtained from this model. Another possible explanation of the two-velocity structures is that two independent solar wind streams are present simultaneously along different segments of the radio ray path.     

The effects of the solar magnetic polarity and the solar wind velocity on Bz-component of the interplanetary magnetic field

We have studied the effect of both solar magnetic polarity and the solar wind velocity on the Bz-component of the interplanetary magnetic field, IMFBz, for the minimum activity of the solar cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24. We made a statistical study of IMFBz in the first section which is considered as an extension of Lyatsky et al. (2003). They made a statistical study of IMFBz for two periods of minimum solar activity 22 and 23 related to 1985–1987 and 1995–1997 when the solar magnetic field had opposite polarity. Our results seem to be consistent with the results obtained by Lyatsky et al. (2003). We found that there is a dependence of IMFBz on the IMFBx and the solar magnetic polarity for the minimum periods of the selected four solar cycles. In addition, we found that there is a dependence of IMFBz on the solar wind velocity.     

Coupling of earth’s magnetosphere,solar wind and lunar plasma environment

The Moon does not have significant atmosphere and magnetic field. So it was considered like a passive absorber of incoming plasma. The latest observation revealed that the significant deflected proton fluxes exist over magnetic anomalies at lunar surface. Such deflection implies that the magnetic anomalies may act as magnetosphere-like obstacles (mini-magnetospheres), modifying the upstream plasma.     

Sharp boundaries of solar wind plasma structures and their relationship to solar wind turbulence

Sharp (<10 min) and large (>20%) solar wind ion flux changes are common phenomena in turbulent solar wind plasma. These changes are the boundaries of small- and middle-scale solar wind plasma structures which can have a significant influence on Earth’s magnetosphere. These solar wind ion flux changes are typically accompanied by only a small change in the bulk solar wind velocity, hence, the flux changes are driven mainly by plasma density variations. We show that these events occur more frequently in high-density solar wind. A characteristic of solar wind turbulence, intermittency, is determined for time periods with and without these flux changes. The probability distribution functions (PDF) of solar wind ion flux variations for different time scales are calculated for each of these periods and compared. For large time scales, the PDFs are Gaussian for both data sets. For small time scales, the PDFs from both data set are more flat than Gaussian, but the degree of flatness is much larger for the data near the sharp flux change boundaries.     

The characteristics of sharp (small-scale) boundaries of solar wind plasma and magnetic field structures

We investigate properties of large (>20%) and sharp (<10 min) solar wind ion flux changes using INTERBALL-1 and WIND plasma and magnetic field measurements from 1996 to 1999. These ion flux changes are the boundaries of small-scale and middle-scale solar wind structures. We describe the behavior of the solar wind velocity, temperature and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) during these sudden flux changes. Many of the largest ion flux changes occur during periods when the solar wind velocity is nearly constant, so these are mainly plasma density changes. The IMF magnitude and direction changes at these events can be either large or small. For about 55% of the ion flux changes, the sum of the thermal and magnetic pressure are in balance across the boundary. In many of the other cases, the thermal pressure change is significantly more than the magnetic pressure change. We also attempted to classify the types of discontinuities observed.     

Real-time global MHD simulation of the solar wind interaction with the earth’s magnetosphere

We have developed a real-time global MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) simulation of the solar wind interaction with the earth’s magnetosphere. By adopting the real-time solar wind parameters and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) observed routinely by the ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) spacecraft, responses of the magnetosphere are calculated with MHD code. The simulation is carried out routinely on the super computer system at National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan. The visualized images of the magnetic field lines around the earth, pressure distribution on the meridian plane, and the conductivity of the polar ionosphere, can be referred to on the web site (http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/).The results show that various magnetospheric activities are almost reproduced qualitatively. They also give us information how geomagnetic disturbances develop in the magnetosphere in relation with the ionosphere. From the viewpoint of space weather, the real-time simulation helps us to understand the whole image in the current condition of the magnetosphere. To evaluate the simulation results, we compare the AE indices derived from the simulation and observations. The simulation and observation agree well for quiet days and isolated substorm cases in general.     

Classification and quantification of solar wind driver gases leading to intense geomagnetic storms

Classification and quantification of the interplanetary structures causing intense geomagnetic storms (Dst?≤??100?nT) that occurred during 1997–2016 are studied. The subject of this consists of solar wind parameters of seventy-three intense storms that are associated with the southward interplanetary magnetic field. About 30.14% of the storms were driven by a combination of the sheath and ejecta (S?+?E), magnetic clouds (MC) and sheath field (S) are 26% each, 10.96% by combined sheath and MCs (S?+?C), while 5.48% of the storms were driven by ejecta (E) alone. Therefore, we want to aver that for storms driven by: (1) S?+?E. The Bz is high (≥10?nT), high density (ρ) (>10?N/cm³), high plasma beta (β) (>0.8), and unspecified (i.e. high or low) structure of the plasma temperature (T) and the flow speed (V); (2) MC. The Bz is ≥10?nT, low temperature (T?≤?400,000?K), low ρ (≤10?N/cm³), high V (≥450?km), and low β (≤0.8); (3) The structures of S?+?C are similar to that of MC except that the V is low (V?≤?450?km); (4) S. The Bz is high, low T, high ρ, unspecified V, and low β; and (5) E. Is when the structures are directly opposite of the one driven by MCs except for high V. Although, westward ring current indicates intense storms, but the large intensity of geomagnetic storms is determined by the intense nature of the electric field strength and the Bz. Therefore, great storms (i.e. Dst?≤??200?nT) are manifestation of high electric field strength (≥13?mV/m).     

A polytropic model for the solar wind

The solar wind fills the heliosphere and is the background medium in which coronal mass ejections propagate. A realistic modelling of the solar wind is therefore essential for space weather research and for reliable predictions. Although the solar wind is highly anisotropic, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models are able to reproduce the global, average solar wind characteristics rather well. The modern computer power makes it possible to perform full three dimensional (3D) simulations in domains extending beyond the Earth’s orbit, to include observationally driven boundary conditions, and to implement even more realistic physics in the equations. In general, MHD models for the solar wind often make use of additional source and sink terms in order to mimic the observed solar wind parameters and/or they hide the not-explicitly modelled physical processes in a reduced or variable adiabatic index. Even the models that try to take as much as possible physics into account, still need additional source terms and fine tuning of the parameters in order to produce realistic results. In this paper we present a new and simple polytropic model for the solar wind, incorporating data from the ACE spacecraft to set the model parameters. This approach allows to reproduce the different types of solar wind, where the simulated plasma variables are in good correspondence with the observed solar wind plasma near 1 AU.     

Effects of solar activity variations on the low latitude topside nighttime ionosphere

We have studied the topside nighttime ionosphere of the low latitude region using data obtained from DMSP F15, ROCSAT-1, KOMPSAT-1, and GUVI on the TIMED satellite for the period of 2000–2004, during which solar activity decreased from its maximum. As these satellites operated at different altitudes, we were able to discriminate altitude dependence of several key ionospheric parameters on the level of solar activity. For example, with intensifying solar activity, electron density was seen to increase more rapidly at higher altitudes than at lower altitudes, implying that the corresponding scale height also increased. The density increased without saturation at all observed altitudes when plotted against solar EUV flux instead of F10.7. The results of the present study, as compared with those of previous studies for lower altitudes, indicate that topside vertical scale height increases with altitude and that, when solar activity increases, topside vertical scale height increases more rapidly at higher altitudes than at lower altitudes. Temperature also increased more rapidly at higher altitudes than at lower altitudes as solar activity increased. In addition, the height of the F2 peak was seen to increase with increasing solar activity, along with the oxygen ion fraction measured above the F2 peak. These results confirm that the topside ionosphere rises and expands with increasing solar activity.     

Geosynchronous magnetic field response to the large and fast solar wind dynamic pressure change

We present a comparison of large and sharp solar wind dynamic pressure changes, observed by several spacecraft, with fast disturbances in the magnetospheric magnetic field measured by the GOES-8, 9 and 10 geosynchronous satellites. Almost 400 solar wind pressure changes in the period 1996–2003 were selected for this study. Using the large statistics we confirmed that increases (decreases) in the dynamic pressure always results in increases (decreases) in the magnitude of geosynchronous B_z component. The amplitude of the geosynchronous B_z response strongly depends on the location of observer relative to the noon meridian, from the value of solar wind pressure before the disturbance arriving and firstly – from the amplitude of the pressure change.     

Modeling and experimental study of the 27-day variation of galactic cosmic-ray intensity for a solar wind velocity depending on heliolongitude

We develop a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the 27-day variation of galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) intensity with a spatial variation of the solar wind velocity. A consistent, divergence-free interplanetary magnetic field is derived by solving the corresponding Maxwell equations with a variable solar wind speed, which reproduces in situ observed experimental data for the time interval to be analyzed (24 August 2007–28 February 2008). We perform model calculations for the GCR intensity using the variable solar wind and the corresponding magnetic field. Results are compatible with experimental data; the correlation coefficient between our model predictions and observed 27-day GCR variation is 0.80 ± 0.05.     

Early history of cosmic rays and solar wind – Some personal remembrances

The early history of solar wind was replete with prejudices and strong opposition to Parker’s formulation. It was only after conclusive evidence from satellite data was obtained that the idea of solar wind was accepted. Some personal experiences of mine during my stay at the University of Chicago in 1953–1954, including the encounter of Dr. Simpson with Dr. Biermann and the inconclusive discussion between them about a possible perpetual solar outflow of particles are presented and further developments when Parker came to Chicago in 1956 and formulated his idea of solar wind, as narrated to me later by Dr. Simpson, are described.     

Magnetospheric disturbances associated with the 13 December 2006 solar flare and their ionospheric effects over North-East Asia

We present an observational study of magnetospheric and ionospheric disturbances during the December 2006 intense magnetic storm associated with the 4В/Х3.4 class solar flare. To perform the study we utilize the ground data from North–East Asian ionospheric and magnetic observatories (60–72°N, 88–152°E) and in situ measurements from LANL, GOES, Geotail and ACE satellites. The comparative analysis of ionospheric, magnetospheric and heliospheric disturbances shows that the interaction of the magnetosphere with heavily compressed solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field caused the initial phase of the magnetic storm. It was accompanied by the intense sporadic E and F2 layers and the total black-out in the nocturnal subauroral ionosphere. During the storm main phase, LANL-97A, LANL 1994_084, LANL 1989-046 and GOES_11 satellites registered a compression of the dayside magnetosphere up to their orbits. In the morning–noon sector the compression was accompanied by an absence of reflections from ionosphere over subauroral ionospheric station Zhigansk (66.8°N, 123.3°E), and a drastic decrease in the F2 layer critical frequency (foF2) up to 54% of the quite one over subauroral Yakutsk station (62°N, 129.7°E). At the end of the main phase, these stations registered a sharp foF2 increase in the afternoon sector. At Yakutsk the peak foF2 was 1.9 time higher than the undisturbed one. The mentioned ionospheric disturbances occurred simultaneously with changes in the temperature, density and temperature anisotropy of particles at geosynchronous orbit, registered by the LANL-97A satellite nearby the meridian of ionospheric and magnetic measurements. The whole complex of disturbances may be caused by radial displacement of the main magnetospheric domains (magnetopause, cusp/cleft, plasma sheet) with respect to the observation points, caused by changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure, the field of magnetospheric convection, and rotation of the Earth.     

Flows and obstacles in the solar wind

Understanding the physics of the various disturbances in the solar wind is critical to successful forecasts of space weather. The STEREO mission promises to bring us new and deeper understanding of these disturbances. As we stand on the threshold of the first results from this mission, it is appropriate to review what we know about solar wind disturbances. Because of their complementary nature we discuss both the disturbances that arise within the solar wind due to the stream structure and coronal mass ejecta and the disturbances that arise when the solar wind collides with planetary obstacles, such as magnetospheres.     

Statistical properties of the IMF clock angle in the solar wind with northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field based on ACE observation from 1998 to 2009: Dependence on the temporal scale of the solar wind

Utilizing ACE satellite observations from 1998 to 2009, we performed the elaborate study on the properties of the clock angle θ_CA (arctan(By/Bz) (?90° to 90°) of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in the solar wind at 1?AU. The solar wind with northward IMF (NW-IMF) and southward IMF (SW-IMF) are analyzed, independently. Statistical analysis shows that the solar wind with SW-IMF and NW-IMF has similar properties in general, including their durations, the IMF Bz and By components, and the IMF θ_CA. Then, the solar wind with NW-IMF (SW-IMF) is classified into five different temporal scales according to the duration of the NW-IMF (SW-IMF), i.e., very-short wind of 10–30?min, short-scale wind of 0.5–1?h, moderate-scale wind of 1–3?h, long-scale wind of 3–5?h, and super-long wind >5?h. Our analysis reveals that the IMF θ_CA has a distinct decrease with increase of the temporal scale of the solar wind. Next, the solar wind is classified into two groups, i.e., the high-speed solar wind (>450?km/s) and the low-speed solar wind (<450?km/s). Our analysis indicates that the IMF θ_CA depends highly on the solar wind speed. Statistically, high-speed solar wind tends to have larger IMF θ_CA than low-speed solar wind. The evolutions of the solar wind and IMF with the solar activity are further studied, revealing no clear solar variation of the IMF θ_CA. Finally, we analyze the monthly variation of the IMF θ_CA. Superposed epoch result strongly suggests the seasonal variation of the IMF θ_CA.     

Effect of current sheets on the power spectrum of the solar wind magnetic field using a cell model

A puzzling observation of solar wind MHD turbulence is the often seen Kolmogorov scaling of k^-5/3$k^{-5/3}$, even though the solar wind MHD turbulence is dominated by Alfvénic fluctuations. Recently Li et al. (2011) proposed that the presence of current sheets may be the cause of the Kolmogorov scaling. Here, using a cell model of the solar wind we examine the effect of current sheets on the power spectrum of the solar wind magnetic field. We model the solar wind as multiple cells separated by current sheets. We prescribe the spectra of turbulent magnetic field in individual cells as IK-like and examine the spectra along trajectories that cross multiple boundaries. We find that these spectra become softer and are consistent with the Kolmogorov-scaling. Our finding supports our recent proposal of Li et al. (2011).     

Solar wind electron density and temperature over solar cycle 23: Thermal noise measurements on Wind

We present the solar wind plasma parameters obtained from the Wind spacecraft during more than nine years, encompassing almost the whole solar cycle 23. Since its launch in November 1994 Wind has frequently observed the in-ecliptic solar wind upstream of the Earth’s bow shock. The WIND/WAVES thermal noise receiver was specially designed to measure the in situ plasma thermal noise spectra, from which the electron density and temperature can be accurately determined. We present and discuss histograms of such measurements performed from 1994 to 2003. Using these large data sets, we study the density and core temperature variations with solar activity cycle and with different regimes of the solar wind. We confirm the anticorrelation of the electron density with the sunspot number, and obtain a positive correlation of the core temperature, with the sunspot number.     

On the time lag between solar wind dynamic parameters and solar activity UV proxies

The solar activity displays variability and periodic behaviours over a wide range of timescales, with the presence of a most prominent cycle with a mean length of 11 years. Such variability is transported within the heliosphere by solar wind, radiation and other processes, affecting the properties of the interplanetary medium. The presence of solar activity–related periodicities is well visible in different solar wind and geomagnetic indices, although their time lags with respect to the solar cycle lead to hysteresis cycles. Here, we investigate the time lag behaviour between a physical proxy of the solar activity, the Ca II K index, and two solar wind parameters (speed and dynamic pressure), studying how their pairwise relative lags vary over almost five solar cycles. We find that the lag between Ca II K index and solar wind speed is not constant over the whole time interval investigated, with values ranging from 6 years to $～$1 year (average 3.2 years). A similar behaviour is found also for the solar wind dynamic pressure. Then, by using a Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis we obtain a 10.21-year mean periodicity for the speed and 10.30-year for the dynamic pressure. We speculate that the different periodicities of the solar wind parameters with respect to the solar 11-year cycle may be related to the overall observed temporal evolution of the time lags. Finally, by accounting for them, we obtain empirical relations that link the amplitude of the Ca II K index to the two solar wind parameters.     

Chaos and multifractals in the solar wind

By using the false-nearest-neighbours method, we have argued that the deterministic component of solar wind plasma dynamics should be low-dimensional. In fact, the results we have obtained using the method of topological embedding indicate that the behaviour of the solar wind can be approximately described by a low-dimensional chaotic attractor in the inertial manifold, which is a subspace of system phase space. We have also shown that the multifractal spectrum of the solar wind attractor is consistent with that for the multifractal measure of the self-similar generalized weighted Cantor set with two different scaling parameters and one probability measure parameter responsible for nonuniform compression in phase space and multifractality. The values of the parameters fitted also demonstrate that the complex solar wind system could only be weakly non-conservative (small dissipation) and quantify nonlinear dynamics; some parts of the attractor in phase space are visited much more frequently than other parts. In addition, to quantify the multifractality of space plasma intermittent turbulence, we consider that generalized Cantor set also in the context of scaling properties of solar wind turbulence. We investigate the resulting multifractal spectrum of a one-dimensional phenomenological model of turbulence cascade depending on its parameters, especially for asymmetric scaling. In particular, we have shown that intermittent pulses are stronger for the cascade model with two different scaling parameters. Even thought solar wind turbulence appears to be rather space filling, a better agreement with the data is obtained, especially for the negative index of generalized dimensions. Therefore we argue that there is a need to use a two-scale asymmetric cascade model. We hope that this generalized multifractal model will be a useful tool for analysis of intermittent turbulence in space plasmas. We thus believe that fractal analysis of chaotic systems could lead us to a deeper understanding of their nature, and maybe even to predict their seemingly unpredictable behaviour.     

Ionospheric losses of Venus in the solar wind

The nature of ionospheric losses from Venus is of essential importance for understanding the ionosphere dynamics of this unmagnetized planet. A plausible mechanism that can explain the escape of charged particles involves the solar wind interaction with the upper atmospheric layers of Venus. The hydrodynamic approach proposed for plasma expansion in the present study comprises two populations of positive ions and the neutralizing electrons, which interact with the solar wind electrons and protons. The fluid equations describing the plasma are solved numerically using a self-similar approach. The behavior of plasma density, velocity, and electric potential, as well as their reliance upon solar wind parameters have been examined. It is found that for noon midnight sites, the oxygen ion-to-electron relative density may be the main factor to enhance the ionic loss. However, the other parameters, like hydrogen density and solar wind density and velocity seem to do not stimulate the runaway ions. For lower dawn-dusk region, the plasma are composed of hydrogen and oxygen ions as well as electrons, but for higher altitudes only hydrogen ions and electrons are encountered. All ionic densities play an important role either to reduce or boost the ionic loss. The streaming solar wind velocity has no effect on the plasma escaping for lower altitudes, but it reduces the expansion at higher altitudes.