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Solar wind eddies and the heliospheric current sheetUlysses has collected data between 1 and 5 AU during, and just following solar maximum, when the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) can be thought of as reaching its maximum tilt and being subject to the maximum amount of turbulence in the solar wind. The Ulysses solar wind plasma instrument measures the vector velocity and can be used to estimate the flow speed and direction in turbulent 'eddies' in the solar wind that are a fraction of an astronomical unit in size and last (have either a turnover or dynamical interaction time of) several hours to more than a day. Here, in a simple exercise, these solar wind eddies at the HCS are characterized using Ulysses data. This character is then used to define a model flow field with eddies that is imposed on an ideal HCS to estimate how the HCS will be deformed by the flow. This model inherently results in the complexity of the HCS increasing with heliocentric distance, but the result is a measure of the degree to which the observed change in complexity is a measure of the importance of solar wind flows in deforming the HCS. By comparison with randomly selected intervals not located on the HCS, it appears that eddies on the HCS are similar to those elsewhere at this time during the solar cycle, as is the resultant deformation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The IMF deformation is analogous to what is often termed the 'random walk' of interplanetary magnetic field lines.
Document ID
19950063967
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Suess, S. T.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Mccomas, D. J.
(Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM United States)
Bame, S. J.
(Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM United States)
Goldstein, B. E.
(Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena, CA United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 100
Issue: A7
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Accession Number
95A95566
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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