Recurrent structures of the interplanetary magnetic field observed by Ulysses

Since its launch in October 1990, Ulysses has provided good quality magnetic field data, practically covering the whole time interval until now. We have studied the very long time scale evolution of the interplanetary magnetic field, in particlular, we have search for recurrent disturbances in the magnetic field. The magnetic field vectors have been mapped back to the Sun along Parker spirals, in order to determine the Heliographic longitude of the source regions in the corona. It was found that the position of many high field sources drifts systematically relative to the corona assumed to rotate with the equatorial rotation period of the Sun. The results are compared to similar observations on the eastward drift of magnetic sectors observed after about June 1992. Changes associated with both the declining phase of the solar cycle and the latitudinal excursion of Ulysses are also discussed.