行星际激波对地球磁层的压缩效应分析

2004 年11月9日WIND飞船探测到一个典型的行星际激波. 激波前行星际磁场为持续约50 min的弱南向磁场, 越过激波面, 磁场发生北向偏转且太阳风动压脉冲增强. 在此强动压脉冲增强结构作用下, 磁层被压缩至一个很小的区域. 激波作用于磁层时引起地球同步轨道 各区域高能粒子通量的响应, 但是不同磁地方时的高能粒子通量的响应不同, 表现出双模式扰动, 即在晨昏两侧各能段的电子和质子通量显著增强, 在子夜侧发生类似于亚暴的无色散粒子注入现象. 扰动从向阳面传输到背阳面, 向阳面粒子通量最先增强, 随后背阳面靠近晨昏两侧, 粒子通量开始增强, 最后子夜侧粒子通量表现出无色散高能粒子注入的特点. 另外, 在靠近正午侧, 质子通量先于电子通量发生响应, 在子夜侧电子通量则先于质子通量发生响应. 利用位于向阳面正午两侧的GOES-10 和 GOES-12卫星观测数据发现, 激波作用于磁层时靠近晨侧的磁场变化表现出简单压缩效应, 而靠近昏侧的磁场变化则显然不同, Bx分量减弱, Bz分量几乎减为零, 而By分量则显著增强. 此外, 位于近地磁尾低纬尾瓣区的TC-1卫星观测到激波触发的尾瓣SI现象.      

Propagation of normal and faster CMEs in the interplanetary medium

We have analyzed 101 Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events and their associated interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) and interplanetary (IP) shocks observed during the period 1997–2005 from the list given by Mujiber Rahman et al. (2012). The aim of the present work is to correlate the interplanetary parameters such as, the speeds of IP shocks and ICMEs, CME transit time and their relation with CME parameters near the Sun. Mainly, a group of 10 faster CME events (V_INT > 2200 km/s) are compared with a list of 91 normal events of Manoharan et al. (2004). From the distribution diagrams of CME, ICME and IP shock speeds, we note that a large number of events tends to narrow towards the ambient (i.e., background) solar wind speed (∼500 km/s) in agreement with the literature. Also, we found that the IP shock speed and the average ICME speed measured at 1 AU are well correlated. In addition, the IP shock speed is found to be slightly higher than the ICME speed. While the normal events show CME travel time in the range of ∼40–80 h with a mean value of 65 h, the faster events have lower transit time with a mean value of 40 h. The effect of solar wind drag is studied using the correlation of CME acceleration with interplanetary (IP) acceleration and with other parameters of ICMEs. While the mean acceleration values of normal and faster CMEs in the LASCO FOV are 1 m/s², 18 m/s², they are −1.5 m/s² and −14 m/s² in the interplanetary medium, respectively. The relation between CME speed and IP acceleration for normal and faster events are found to agree with that of  and  except slight deviations for the faster events. It is also seen that the faster events with less travel time face higher negative acceleration (>−10 m/s²) in the interplanetary medium up to 1 AU.     

Magnetogasdynamic shock wave generated by a moving piston in a rotational axisymmetric isothermal flow of perfect gas with variable density

The propagation of a strong cylindrical shock wave in an ideal gas with azimuthal magnetic field, and with or without axisymmetric rotational effects, is investigated. The shock wave is driven out by a piston moving with time according to power law. The ambient medium is assumed to have radial, axial and azimuthal component of fluid velocities. The fluid velocities, the initial density and the initial magnetic field of the ambient medium are assumed to be varying and obey power laws. Solutions are obtained, when the flow between the shock and the piston is isothermal. The gas is assumed to have infinite electrical conductivity and the angular velocity of the ambient medium is assumed to be decreasing as the distance from the axis increases. It is expected that such an angular velocity may occur in the atmospheres of rotating planets and stars. The shock wave moves with variable velocity and the total energy of the wave is non-constant. The effects of variation of the initial density and the Alfven-Mach number on the flow-field are obtained. A comparison is also made between rotating and non-rotating cases.     

Interplanetary Physics Research in China During 2004 - 2005

This brief report summarized the latest advances of the interplanetary physics research in China during the period of 2004-2005, made independently by Chinese space physicists and through international collaboration. The report covers all aspects of the interplanetary physics, including theoretical studies, numerical simulation and data analysis.     

Filtration of Interstellar Atoms through the Heliospheric Interface

Interstellar atoms penetrate deep into the heliosphere after passing through the heliospheric interface—the region of the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium. The heliospheric interface serves as a filter for the interstellar atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, and, to a lesser extent, nitrogen, due to their coupling with interstellar and heliospheric plasmas by charge exchange and electron impact ionization. The filtration has great importance for the determination of local interstellar abundances of these elements, which becomes now possible due to measurements of interstellar pickup by Ulysses and ACE, and anomalous cosmic rays by Voyagers, Ulysses, ACE, SAMPEX and Wind. The filtration of the different elements depends on the level of their coupling with the plasma in the interaction region. The recent studies of the filtration of the interstellar atoms in the heliospheric interface region is reviewed in this paper. The dependence of the filtration on the local interstellar proton and H atom number densities is discussed and the roles of the charge exchange and electron impact ionization on the filtration are evaluated. The influence of electron temperature in the inner heliosheath on the filtration process is discussed as well. Using the filtration coefficients obtained from the modeling and SWICS/Ulysses pickup ion measurements, the local interstellar abundances of the considered elements are determined.     

Magnetic storm cessation during sustained northward IMF

Times of sustained strong northward IMF can interrupt the magnetic storm development and lead to lower levels of geomagnetic activity for many hours. During 1997–2000 we have found two events of this kind observed on November 8, 1998 and October 13, 2000. In both cases, the storms started as usual after arrival of ejecta with a southward IMF component from the Sun to the Earth, but ceased after several hours due to the onset of sustained northward IMF leading to the faster recovery process. After the passage of this so-called positive domain, the storm development started again. The heliospheric magnetic field intensity remained enhanced and nearly constant. The solar origins of the geomagnetic storm interruptions have been investigated. Tentatively they may be related to strong nonlinear Alfvйn type solitary waves excited by non-stationary coronal current variations with a characteristic time-scale of about a day.     

Low-latitude geomagnetic response to the interplanetary conditions during very intense magnetic storms

The variations in the horizontal and declination components of the geomagnetic field in response to the interplanetary shocks driven by fast halo coronal mass ejections, fast solar wind streams from the coronal hole regions and the dynamic pressure pulses associated with these events are studied. Close association between the field-aligned current density (j_∥) and the fluctuations in the declination component (ΔD_ABG) at Alibag is found for intense storm conditions. Increase in the dawn-dusk interplanetary electric field (E_y) and ΔD_ABG are generally in phase. However, when the magnetospheric electric field is directed from dusk to dawn direction, a prominent scatter occurs between the two. It is suggested that low-latitude ground magnetic data may serve as a proxy for the interplanetary conditions in the solar wind.     

Numeric simulations of in situ observations of interacting ejecta near 1 AU

We use a simple numerical model (González-Esparza, J.A., Santillán, A., Ferrer, J. A numerical study of the interaction between two ejecta in the interplanetary medium: one and two dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, Ann. Geophys. 22, 3741–3749, 2004) to study the evolution of three events in the solar wind reported by Wang et al. (Wang, Y.M., Ye, P.Z., Wang, S. Multiple magnetic clouds: several examples during March–April 2001. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 1370, 2003, doi:10.1029/2003JA009850), where two interacting ejecta detected in situ by ACE near 1 AU were related to CMEs observed previously by SOHO-LASCO. The study is based on a 1-D hydrodynamic model using the ZEUS code (Stone, J.M., Norman, M. ZEUS 2-D: A radiation magnetohydrodynamics code for astrophysical flows in two dimensions, I, the hydrodynamics algorithms and tests, Astrophys. J. 80, 753, 1992). Although this model cannot address either the magnetic field dynamics or the complex geometrical effects intrinsic in the three-dimensional nature of the phenomena, it illuminates the transferring of momentum and evolution of interacting large-scale solar wind disturbances in those cases where there is no merging (magnetic reconnection) between the two ejecta. This model can reproduce, in some cases, characteristics of the events such as transit times and flow signatures as inferred from the two-point measurements from spacecraft.     

CME dynamics using coronagraph and interplanetary ejecta data

In this work, we present a study of the coronal mass ejection (CME) dynamics using LASCO coronagraph observations combined with in-situ ACE plasma and magnetic field data, covering a continuous period of time from January 1997 to April 2001, complemented by few extreme events observed in 2001 and 2003. We show, for the first time, that the CME expansion speed correlates very well with the travel time to 1 AU of the interplanetary ejecta (or ICMEs) associated with the CMEs, as well as with their preceding shocks. The events analyzed in this work are a subset of the events studied in Schwenn et al. (2005), from which only the CMEs associated with interplanetary ejecta (ICMEs) were selected. Three models to predict CME travel time to Earth, two proposed by Gopalswamy et al. (2001) and one by Schwenn et al. (2005), were used to characterize the dynamical behavior of this set of events. Extreme events occurred in 2001 and 2003 were used to test the prediction capability of the models regarding CMEs with very high LASCO C3 speeds.     

Evolution of solar wind structures from 0.72 to 1 AU

Understanding the evolution of solar wind structures in the inner heliosphere as they approach the Earth is important to space weather prediction. From the in situ solar wind plasma and magnetic field measurements of Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) at 0.72 AU (1979–1988), and of Wind/Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) missions at 1 AU (1995–2004), we identify and characterize two major solar wind structures, stream interaction regions (SIRs) and interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). The average percentage of SIRs occurring with shocks increases significantly from 3% to 24% as they evolve from 0.72 to 1 AU. The average occurrence rate, radial extent, and bulk velocity variation of SIRs do not change from 0.72 to 1 AU, while peak pressure and magnetic field strength both decrease with the radial evolution of SIRs. Within the 0.28 AU distance from the orbit of Venus to that of Earth, the average fraction of ICMEs with shocks increases from 49% to 66%, and the typical radial extent of ICMEs expands by about a fraction of 1.4, with peak pressure and magnetic field strength decreasing significantly. The mean occurrence rate and expansion velocity of ICMEs do not change from 0.72 to 1 AU.