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1.
The declining phases of solar cycles are known for their high speed solar wind streams that dominate the geomagnetic responses during this period. Outstanding questions about these streams, which can provide the fastest winds of the solar cycle, concern their solar origins, persistence, and predictability. The declining phase of cycle 23 has lasted significantly longer than the corresponding phases of the previous two cycles. Solar magnetograph observations suggest that the solar polar magnetic field is also ～?2?–?3 times weaker. The launch of STEREO in late 2006 provided additional incentive to examine the origins of what is observed at 1 AU in the recent cycle, with the OMNI data base at the NSSDC available as an Earth/L1 baseline for comparisons. Here we focus on the year 2007 when the solar corona exhibited large, long-lived mid-to-low latitude coronal holes and polar hole extensions observed by both SOHO and STEREO imagers. STEREO provides in situ measurements consistent with rigidly corotating solar wind stream structure at up to ～?45° heliolongitude separation by late 2007. This stability justifies the use of magnetogram-based steady 3D solar wind models to map the observed high speed winds back to their coronal sources. We apply the WSA solar wind model currently running at the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center with the expectation that it should perform its best at this quiet time. The model comparisons confirm the origins of the observed high speed streams expected from the solar images, but also reveal uncertainties in the solar wind source mapping associated with this cycle’s weaker solar polar fields. Overall, the results illustrate the importance of having accurate polar fields in synoptic maps used in solar wind forecast models. At the most fundamental level, they demonstrate the control of the solar polar fields over the high speed wind sources, and thus one specific connection between the solar dynamo and the solar wind character.  相似文献   

2.
G. de Toma 《Solar physics》2011,274(1-2):195-217
We analyze coronal holes present on the Sun during the extended minimum between Cycles 23 and 24, study their evolution, examine the consequences for the solar wind speed near the Earth, and compare it with the previous minimum in 1996. We identify coronal holes and determine their size and location using a combination of EUV observations from SOHO/EIT and STEREO/EUVI and magnetograms. We find that the long period of low solar activity from 2006 to 2009 was characterized by weak polar magnetic fields and polar coronal holes smaller than observed during the previous minimum. We also find that large, low-latitude coronal holes were present on the Sun until 2008 and remained important sources of recurrent high-speed solar wind streams. By the end of 2008, these low-latitude coronal holes started to close down, and finally disappeared in 2009, while smaller, mid-latitude coronal holes formed in the remnants of Cycle 24 active regions shifting the sources of the solar wind at the Earth to higher latitudes.  相似文献   

3.
Coronal holes as sources of solar wind   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  
We investigate the association of high-speed solar wind with coronal holes during the Skylab mission by: (1) direct comparison of solar wind and coronal X-ray data; (2) comparison of near-equatorial coronal hole area with maximum solar wind velocity in the associated streams; and (3) examination of the correlation between solar and interplanetary magnetic polarities. We find that all large near-equatorial coronal holes seen during the Skylab period were associated with high-velocity solar wind streams observed at 1 AU.Harvard College Observatory-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.A substantial portion of this work was done while a visiting scientist at American Science and Engineering.  相似文献   

4.
We study the relationship between the speeds of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) obtained close to the Sun and in the interplanetary medium during the low solar-activity period from 2008 to 2010. We use a multi-spacecraft forward-modeling technique to fit a flux-rope-like model to white-light coronagraph images from the STEREO and SOHO spacecraft to estimate the geometrical configuration, propagation in three-dimensions (3D), and the radial speeds of the observed CMEs. The 3D speeds obtained in this way are used in existing CME travel-time prediction models. The results are compared to the actual CME transit times from the Sun to STEREO, ACE, and Wind spacecraft as well as to the transit times calculated using projected CME speeds. CME 3D speeds give slightly better predictions than projected CME speeds, but a large scatter is observed between the predicted and observed travel times, even when 3D speeds are used. We estimate the possible sources of errors and find a weak tendency for large interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) with high magnetic fields to arrive faster than predicted and small, low-magnetic-field ICMEs to arrive later than predicted. The observed CME transit times from the Sun to 1?AU show a particularly good correlation with the upstream solar-wind speed. Similar trends have not been observed in previous studies using data sets near solar maximum. We suggest that near solar minimum a relatively narrow range of CME initial speeds, sizes, and magnetic-field magnitudes led to a situation where aerodynamic drag between CMEs and ambient solar wind was the primary cause of variations in CME arrival times from the Sun to 1?AU.  相似文献   

5.
The observations both near the Sun and in the heliosphere during the activity minimum between solar cycles 23 and 24 exhibit different phenomena from those typical of the previous solar minima. In this paper, we have chosen Carrington rotation 2070 in 2008 to investigate the properties of the background solar wind by using the three-dimensional (3D) Solar?CInterPlanetary Conservation Element/Solution Element Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. We also study the effects of polar magnetic fields on the characteristics of the solar corona and the solar wind by conducting simulations with an axisymmetric polar flux added to the observed magnetic field. The numerical results are compared with the observations from multiple satellites, such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Ulysses, Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), Wind and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). The comparison demonstrates that the first simulation with the observed magnetic fields reproduces some observed peculiarities near the Sun, such as relatively small polar coronal holes, the presence of mid- and low-latitude holes, a tilted and warped current sheet, and the broad multiple streamers. The numerical results also capture the inconsistency between the locus of the minimum wind speed and the location of the heliospheric current sheet, and predict slightly slower and cooler polar streams with a relatively smaller latitudinal width, broad low-latitude intermediate-speed streams, and globally weak magnetic field and low density in the heliosphere. The second simulation with strengthened polar fields indicates that the weak polar fields in the current minimum play a crucial role in determining the states of the corona and the solar wind.  相似文献   

6.
Coronal holes (CHs) are regions of open magnetic field lines in the solar corona and the source of the fast solar wind. Understanding the evolution of coronal holes is critical for solar magnetism as well as for accurate space weather forecasts. We study the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) synoptic maps at three wavelengths (195 Å/193 Å, 171 Å and 304 Å) measured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SOHO/EIT) and the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) instruments. The two datasets are first homogenized by scaling the SDO/AIA data to the SOHO/EIT level by means of histogram equalization. We then develop a novel automated method to identify CHs from these homogenized maps by determining the intensity threshold of CH regions separately for each synoptic map. This is done by identifying the best location and size of an image segment, which optimally contains portions of coronal holes and the surrounding quiet Sun allowing us to detect the momentary intensity threshold. Our method is thus able to adjust itself to the changing scale size of coronal holes and to temporally varying intensities. To make full use of the information in the three wavelengths we construct a composite CH distribution, which is more robust than distributions based on one wavelength. Using the composite CH dataset we discuss the temporal evolution of CHs during the Solar Cycles 23 and 24.  相似文献   

7.
We analyze a series of complex interplanetary events and their solar origins that occurred between 19 and 23 May 2007 using observations by the STEREO and Wind satellites. The analyses demonstrate the new opportunities offered by the STEREO multispacecraft configuration for diagnosing the structure of in situ events and relating them to their solar sources. The investigated period was characterized by two high-speed solar wind streams and magnetic clouds observed in the vicinity of the sector boundary. The observing satellites were separated by a longitudinal distance comparable to the typical radial extent of magnetic clouds at 1 AU (fraction of an AU), and, indeed, clear differences were evident in the records from these spacecraft. Two partial-halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were launched from the same active region less than a day apart, the first on 19 May and the second on 20 May 2007. The clear signatures of the magnetic cloud associated with the first CME were observed by STEREO B and Wind while only STEREO A recorded clear signatures of the magnetic cloud associated with the latter CME. Both magnetic clouds appeared to have interacted strongly with the ambient solar wind and the data showed evidence that they were a part of the coronal streamer belt. Wind and STEREO B also recorded a shocklike disturbance propagating inside a magnetic cloud that compressed the field and plasma at the cloud’s trailing portion. The results illustrate how distant multisatellite observations can reveal the complex structure of the extension of the coronal streamer into interplanetary space even during the solar activity minimum. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.  相似文献   

8.
Studying the evolution of magnetic clouds entrained in coronal mass ejections using in-situ data is a difficult task, since only a limited number of observational points is available at large heliocentric distances. Remote sensing observations can, however, provide important information for events close to the Sun. In this work we estimate the flux rope orientation first in the close vicinity of the Sun (2?–?20 R ⊙) using forward modeling of STEREO/SECCHI and SOHO/LASCO coronagraph images of coronal mass ejections and then in situ using Grad–Shafranov reconstruction of the magnetic cloud. Thus, we are able to measure changes in the orientation of the erupted flux ropes as they propagate from the Sun to 1 AU. We present both techniques and use them to study 15 magnetic clouds observed during the minimum following Solar Cycle 23 and the rise of Solar Cycle 24. This is the first multievent study to compare the three-dimensional parameters of CMEs from imaging and in-situ reconstructions. The results of our analysis confirm earlier studies showing that the flux ropes tend to deflect towards the solar equatorial plane. We also find evidence of rotation on their travel from the Sun to 1 AU. In contrast to past studies, our method allows one to deduce the evolution of the three-dimensional orientation of individual flux ropes rather than on a statistical basis.  相似文献   

9.
Helium abundance variations in the solar wind have been studied using data obtained with Los Alamos plasma instrumentation on IMP 6, 7, and 8 from 1971 through 1978. For the first time, average flow characteristics have been determined as a function of helium abundance, A(He). Low and average values of A(He) are each preferentially identified with a different characteristic plasma ‘state’ these correspond to what have previously been recognized as the signatures of interplanetary magnetic field polarity reversals and high speed streams, respectively. Helium enhancements at 1 AU also can be identified with a characteristic plasma state, which includes high magnetic field intensity and low proton temperature. This is further evidence that such enhancements are a signal of coronal transient mass ejections. Long-term averages of A(He) at least partially reflect the relative frequency with which coronal streamers, holes, and transients extend their influence into the ecliptic plane at 1 AU. As a result, there is a real and pronounced solar cycle variation of solar wind H(He).  相似文献   

10.
A correlative study is made between inferred solar sources of high-speed solar wind streams and extended white-light coronal features. The solar wind data used in the study consists of 110 co-rotating high-speed plasma streams observed from spacecraft at 1 AU in the period February 1971-December 1974; the coronal data consists of 144 equatorward extensions of polar coronal holes and 15 equatorial coronal holes, derived fromK-coronometer maps of the white-light corona during the same period. Of 110 observed solar wind streams 88 could directly be associated with an equatorward extension of a polar-cap coronal hole and 14 could be associated with a low-latitude equatorial coronal hole. In 8 cases no visible coronal feature was identified. Of 144 identified polar-cap extensions 102 were associated with a high-speed stream observed at 1 AU; 19 coronal features were related in time to data gaps in the solar wind measurements, while 38 features did not give rise to solar wind streams observed at Earth orbit. The probability of an association depended on the heliographic co-latitude of a polar hole extension, being 50% for a polar lobe extending down to 45° co-latitude and 100% for a polar coronal hole extending to 80° co-latitude or more.Paper presented at the 11th European Regional Astronomical Meeting of the IAU on New Windows to the Univese, held 3–8 July, 1989, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.  相似文献   

11.
We model the kinematics and three-dimensional distribution of mass in a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on 17 May 2008, using a comprehensive analysis of STEREO images of the CME. The CME is a surprisingly fast one for solar minimum, reaching velocities of up to 1120 km?s?1. It can be followed continuously from inception all the way out to 1 AU. We find that the appearance of the CME can be modeled reasonably well as a combination of two distinct fronts that expand outward in a self-similar fashion. The model implies that STEREO-B is struck by the weaker of these two fronts on 19 May, and the in situ instruments on STEREO-B do see a weak density and magnetic field enhancement at the expected time.  相似文献   

12.
An analytical 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) solution of a magnetic-flux rope (FR) is presented. This FR solution may explain the uniform propagation, beyond ～?0.05 AU, of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) commonly observed by today’s missions like The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI), Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), tracked to tens of times the radius of the Sun, and in some cases up to 1 AU, and/or beyond. Once a CME occurs, we present arguments regarding its evolution based on its mass and linear momentum conservation. Here, we require that the gravitational and magnetic forces balance each other in the framework of the MHD theory for a simple model of the evolution of a CME, assuming it interacts weakly with the steady solar wind. When satisfying these ansätze we identify a relation between the transported mechanical mass of the interplanetary CME with its geometrical parameters and the intensity of the magnetic field carried by the structure. In this way we are able to estimate the mass of the interplanetary CME (ICME) for a list of cases, from the Wind mission records of ICME encountered near Earth, at 1 AU. We obtain a range for masses of ～?109 to 1013 kg, or assuming a uniform distribution, of ～?0.5 to 500 cm?3 for the hadron density of these structures, a result that appears to be consistent with observations.  相似文献   

13.
We examine solar sources for 20 interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed in 2009 in the near-Earth solar wind. We performed a detailed analysis of coronagraph and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Our study shows that the coronagraph observations from viewpoints away from the Sun–Earth line are paramount to locate the solar sources of Earth-bound ICMEs during solar minimum. SOHO/LASCO detected only six CMEs in our sample, and only one of these CMEs was wider than 120°. This demonstrates that observing a full or partial halo CME is not necessary to observe the ICME arrival. Although the two STEREO spacecraft had the best possible configuration for observing Earth-bound CMEs in 2009, we failed to find the associated CME for four ICMEs, and identifying the correct CME was not straightforward even for some clear ICMEs. Ten out of 16 (63 %) of the associated CMEs in our study were “stealth” CMEs, i.e. no obvious EUV on-disk activity was associated with them. Most of our stealth CMEs also lacked on-limb EUV signatures. We found that stealth CMEs generally lack the leading bright front in coronagraph images. This is in accordance with previous studies that argued that stealth CMEs form more slowly and at higher coronal altitudes than non-stealth CMEs. We suggest that at solar minimum the slow-rising CMEs do not draw enough coronal plasma around them. These CMEs are hence difficult to discern in the coronagraphic data, even when viewed close to the plane of the sky. The weak ICMEs in our study were related to both intrinsically narrow CMEs and the non-central encounters of larger CMEs. We also demonstrate that narrow CMEs (angular widths ≤?20°) can arrive at Earth and that an unstructured CME may result in a flux rope-type ICME.  相似文献   

14.
To gain insight into the relationships between solar activity, the occurrence and variability of coronal holes, and the association of such holes with solar wind features such as high-velocity streams, a study of the period 1963–1974 was made. This period corresponds approximately with sunspot cycle 20. The primary data used for this work consisted of X-ray and XUV solar images obtained from rockets. The investigation revealed that:
  1. The polar coronal holes prominent at solar minimum, decreased in area as solar activity increased and were small or absent at maximum phase. This evolution exhibited the same phase difference between the two hemispheres that was observed in other indicators of activity.
  2. During maximum, coronal holes occurred poleward of the sunspot belts and in the equatorial region between them. The observed equatorial holes were small and persisted for one or two solar rotations only; some high latitude holes had lifetimes exceeding two solar rotations.
  3. During 1963–74 whenever XUV or X-ray images were available, nearly all recurrent solar wind streams of speed ?500 km s?1 were found associated with coronal holes at less than 40° latitude; however some coronal holes appeared to have no associated wind streams at the Earth.
  相似文献   

15.
It has been realized for some time that the slow solar wind with its embedded heliospheric current sheet often exhibits complex features suggesting at least partially transient origin. In this paper we investigate the structure of the slow solar wind using the observations by the Wind and STEREO spacecraft during two Carrington rotations (2054 and 2055). These occur at the time of minimum solar activity when the interplanetary medium is dominated by recurrent high-speed streams and large-scale interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are rare. However, the signatures of transients with small scale-sizes and/or low magnetic field strength (comparable with the typical solar wind value, ～?5 nT) are frequently found in the slow solar wind at these times. These events do not exhibit significant speed gradients across the structure, but instead appear to move with the surrounding flow. Source mapping using models based on GONG magnetograms suggests that these transients come from the vicinity of coronal source surface sector boundaries. In situ they are correspondingly observed in the vicinity of high density structures where the dominant electron heat flux reverses its flow polarity. These weak transients might be indications of dynamical changes at the coronal hole boundaries or at the edges of the helmet streamer belt previously reported in coronagraph observations. Our analysis supports the idea that even at solar minimum, a considerable fraction of the slow solar wind is transient in nature.  相似文献   

16.
Using the high-resolution mass spectrometer MTOF on board SOHO we have measured the solar wind isotopic abundance ratios of Ne, Mg, and Si in different solar wind regimes with bulk velocities ranging from 350 km/s to 650 km/s. Data indicate a systematic depletion of the heavier isotopes in the slow solar wind compared to their abundances in the fast solar wind from coronal holes. These variations in the solar wind isotopic composition represent a pure mass-dependent effect because the different isotopes of an element pass the inner corona with the same charge state distribution. The influence of particle mass on the acceleration of minor solar wind ions is discussed in the context of theoretical models and recent optical observations with other SOHO instruments.  相似文献   

17.
As the observational signature of the footprints of solar magnetic field lines open into the heliosphere, coronal holes provide a critical measure of the structure and evolution of these lines. Using a combination of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SOHO/EIT), Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA), and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory/Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (STEREO/EUVI A/B) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations spanning 1996?–?2015 (nearly two solar cycles), coronal holes are automatically detected and characterized. Coronal hole area distributions show distinct behavior in latitude, defining the domain of polar and low-latitude coronal holes. The northern and southern polar regions show a clear asymmetry, with a lag between hemispheres in the appearance and disappearance of polar coronal holes.  相似文献   

18.
Radio sounding experiments probing the inner solar wind by polarized pulses of pulsars PSR B0525+21 (J0528+22) and PSR B531+21 (J0534+22) were carried out in June 2005 and June 2007 on the large phased array of the Lebedev Physical Institute at 111 MHz in the period near the minimum of the solar-activity cycle. The lines of sight toward these pulsars were close to the Sun during the observation sessions. The arrival-time delays for pulses from PSR J0534+22 are used to derive the radial dependence of the mean density of the circumsolar plasma. Comparison with Stanford coronal magnetic-field data, STEREO SECCHI, and SOHO EIT synoptic maps shows that the results are related to the polar coronal holes. The ambient density radial distribution derived from the arrival-time delays for pulses from PSR J0534+22 is stronger than inverse-square law indicating that the acceleration of fast, high-latitude solar-wind outflows, continues to heliocentric distances of (5–10)R S, where R S is the solar radius. The mean plasma density near a solar-activity minimum in the investigated range of heliocentric distances is substantially lower than at the solar-activity maximum.  相似文献   

19.
The relationship between two classes of coronal holes and high-speed quasi-stationary streams of solar wind at the Earth’s orbit is investigated. “Open” coronal holes, whose area is invariable or increases with the height over the solar surface, are rated in the first class, and “closed” coronal holes with areas decreasing with the height are referred to as second-class holes. The parameters of the coronal holes are determined from IR and EUV images and spectroheliograms. It is shown that most open coronal holes can be associated with high-speed solar-wind streams, while most closed coronal holes exhibit a much lower correlation with such streams.  相似文献   

20.
A new method for the automated detection of coronal holes and filaments on the solar disk is presented. The starting point is coronal images taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO/EIT) in the Fe ix/x 171 Å, Fe xii 195 Å, and He ii 304 Å extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lines and the corresponding full-disk magnetograms from the Michelson Doppler Imager (SOHO/MDI) from different phases of the solar cycle. The images are processed to enhance their contrast and to enable the automatic detection of the two candidate features, which are visually indistinguishable in these images. Comparisons are made with existing databases, such as the He i 10830 Å NSO/Kitt Peak coronal-hole maps and the Solar Feature Catalog (SFC) from the European Grid of Solar Observations (EGSO), to discriminate between the two features. By mapping the features onto the corresponding magnetograms, distinct magnetic signatures are then derived. Coronal holes are found to have a skewed distribution of magnetic-field intensities, with values often reaching 100?–?200 gauss, and a relative magnetic-flux imbalance. Filaments, in contrast, have a symmetric distribution of field intensity values around zero, have smaller magnetic-field intensity than coronal holes, and lie along a magnetic-field reversal line. The identification of candidate features from the processed images and the determination of their distinct magnetic signatures are then combined to achieve the automated detection of coronal holes and filaments from EUV images of the solar disk. Application of this technique to all three wavelengths does not yield identical results. Furthermore, the best agreement among all three wavelengths and NSO/Kitt Peak coronal-hole maps occurs during the declining phase of solar activity. The He ii data mostly fail to yield the location of filaments at solar minimum and provide only a subset at the declining phase or peak of the solar cycle. However, the Fe ix/x 171 Å and Fe xii 195 Å data yield a larger number of filaments than the Hα data of the SFC.  相似文献   

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