Chapter 3

SOLAR WIND
J. Feynman

The solar wind or interplanetary medium is a fully ion- where r is the radial distance, p the mass density, and u the
ized, electrically neutral plasma that carries a magnetic field radial velocity. The momentum equation for a fluid is written
and streams outward from the inner solar corona at all times. as
The wind is highly variable in both time and space and fills
the interstellar region in the vicinity of the sun. This chapter du -dP GMo
describes the observed properties of the solar wind in the dr = dr - P (3.2)
vicinity of the earth, including the undisturbed wind and
the magnetosheath and bow shock formed as the solar wind where P is the scalar pressure, G the gravitational constant,
flows around the earth's magnetic field. and Mo the mass of the sun. Energy conservation is given
by

3.1 BASIC THEORY d [r2 2 +

r2 dr 2
3.1.1 Simple Spherically Symmetric
Treatment - d GMo
Treatment
r dr (r2)
r dr
- pu 2 + S(r)
r2
The solar wind is the outer part of the sun's corona,
streaming past the earth. Chapman [1957] made an early where S(r) is an energy source or sink term. The corona is
estimate of the particle density expected in space at the orbit assumed to be a neutral electron proton gas so that
of the earth. He considered the expansion of a corona with
a temperature at the base on the order of 106 K. He calculated p = n(mp + me) = nm (3.4)
the coronal density profile assuming that the corona was in
hydrostatic equilibrium and found that the electron density where mp and m are the proton mass and me the mass of
at the earth's orbit would be 102or 103particles/cm3. He the electron. For equal electron and proton temperature the
also found that the pressure at large heliocentric distances pressure is given by
would be of the order of 10-5 dyn/cm2, whereas estimates
of the interstellar pressure were in the range of 10-12 or 10- 1 3 P = 2nkT. (3.5)
dyn/cm2 . Thus, the hydrostatic corona could not be matched
with its boundary conditions in the distant heliosphere. This Parker further simplified the problem by assuming that the
treatment, although describing the sun in a very simplified pressure and temperature were related by the polytropic law
manner, led Parker to postulate that the corona was not in
hydrostatic equilibrium and that, in fact, the coronal plasma
was flowing out from the sun continuously. Parker [1963] P = 0 P (3.6)
treated the problem as that of a steady state spherically PO
symmetric fluid expansion. The equations that govern the
behavior of such a system are the equations of mass, mo- where a is the polytropic index. An isothermal gas corre-
mentum, and energy conservation. The mass conservation sponds to a = 1 and an adiabatic process to a = 5/3. The
is expressed by assumption of the polytropic law effectively assumes a so-
lution to the energy conservation equation with an implied
source term. Parker examined the solutions of the equations
1 d (r2 u) (31) for a range of selections for a. See Parker [1963] or Hund-
r2 dr hausen [1972] for further discussion and details.

3-1
CHAPTER 3
The simplest case, but one that illustratesimportantpoints
concerning the behavior of the solutions, is that of the iso-
thermal corona. Near the sun the isothermal assumption is 3 CLASS 4
probably valid. Using the expressions for the density and
the polytrope law with a = 1, the momentum conservation
equation becomes

du 2kTdn nmGM (3.7) CLASS 2

nmu -d2kT- (3.7)
dr dr r2 2

Equation (3.1) for mass conservation is integrated to give

4iinur 2 = constant, (3.8)

that is, the flux through a sun centered sphere is a constant.

Equation (3.8) can be used to eliminate the number density CLASS I
from Equation (3.7) CLASS 3

du U2 -2_ kT = 4kT GMo (3.9

u dr m mr r2
0 2 4 6 8
r/r c

Assume that the temperature of the corona is such that

Figure 3-1. Topology of solutions to the solar wind equations for the
spherically symmetric isothermal case. The only solution that
GM m can satisfy the boundary conditions of low velocity at the sun
r 4k' and low pressure at large distances is the class 2 solution
[Hundhausen, 1972].

where ro is the base of the corona. The right hand side of

Equation (3.9) is negative in the range of r0 < r < rc where either maximum or minimum near rc. These four classes of
solutions for the velocity are shown in Figure 3-1. The
GMom (3.10) physical solutions for the solar wind are members of the
c4kT ' class of solutions that satisfy the physically relevant bound-
ary conditions. Class 1 solution velocities approach zero
and rc is called the "critical radius." For r > re, the right near the sun and at great distances. Class 2 is the unique
hand side of Equation (3.9) will be positive. For r = rc, solution that has a low velocity near the sun, passes through
the right hand side must be zero. In that case, to make the the critical point, and has high velocity at great distances.
left hand side zero either Both class 3 and 4 solutions have high velocity near the
sun. Class 3 is the unique solution passing through the
2kT critical point and having low velocity at great distances,
u2 (r) =m (3.1la) whereas class 4 solutions have high distant velocities. Since,
for the physical solutions, the velocity near the sun is small,
or class 3 and 4 solutions are immediately eliminated. Class
1 solutions would give finite pressures at large distances
I du and would result in the same problem of matching to the
u dr = 0. (3.11) interstellar medium as did the hydrostatic corona. For class
r = rc 2, however,it can be shown that the expansion speed con-
tinues to increase slowly as r -- oo, so that the density and
These two conditions expressed in Equation (3.1 la and hence the pressure approach zero at infinity. Thus the class
b) define four classes of solutions to the set of simultaneous 2 solution satisfies the boundary conditions and represents
equations governing the model corona. If Equation (3.1 la) the physically existing solar wind. Since according to Equa-
is satisfied then du/dr has the same sign for all r, that is, u tion (3.11a) the velocity at rc is equal to the velocity of
either increases or decreases monotonically with distance sound, this solution is supersonic for r > rc.
from the sun. If Equation (3.1 lb) is satisifed, then u is Although the dicussion above is highly simplified [fol-

3-2
 SOLAR WIND
lowing Hundhausen, 1972] the essential characteristics are The velocity of the wind changes only slowly with radius
maintained in all more sophisticated treatments. That is, a beyond a few times the critical radius and will be approx-
family of solutions in every treatment exists but the im- imated by a constant. The path followed by the fluid element
position of the boundary conditions selects a finite number is determined by
of solutions that have low velocities at the sun, pass through
critical points where the flow becomes supersonic, and result 1 dr Ur u
in a high finite velocity and zero pressure at infinity. rd U, -orsin (3.13)
The configuration of the solar wind magnetic field was
also treated by Parker [1963]. Since the conductivity of the For constant u beyond ro this is integrated to give
solar wind is extremely high, there is essentially no diffusion
of the plasma transverse to the magnetic field and the field -u
is said to be "frozen in" to the flow. The plasma carries the r - ro = (sin(- 60) (3.14)
field with it into space. If the sun were not rotating, the
field would extend straight outward in all directions but the
Then for a spherically symmetric geometry V · B = 0
rotation causes the field to appear wound up as shown in
gives
Figure 3-2. In a spherical system of coordinates (r, 0)
0,

ORBIT OF EARTH Br (r, 6) =B(ro, O, 0) r, r-

--
-B, (r, 0)
0, = -B (ro, (,, 0) sin 0 (3.15)
ur

The configuration near the solar equatorial plane is shown

in Figure 3-2.
300 km/s Transforming to a stationary coordinate system leaves
the magnetic field configuration unchanged but in the sta-
tionary system there is an electric field

E = -u x B (3.16)

so that the direction of the plasma flow is radial rather than

along the field lines.

3.1.2 Further Considerations

Figure3-2. The configurationof the interplanetarymagneticfield in the This simple spherically symmetric solar wind theory was
equatorialplane for a steadysolar wind. The field winds up remarkably successful in predicting the existence of the wind
becauseof the rotationof the sun. Fieldsin low speedwind and estimating the velocity and density. However, it soon
will be more wound up than those in high speed wind [Parker,
1963]. (Reprinted with permission from J. Wiley and Sons became apparent that the predicted velocity was lower than
© 1963.) that observed and the predicted density was too large. Re-
finements of solar wind theory have taken many approaches,
rotating with the sun, the velocity of a fluid element carrying none of them as yet completely successful. The earliest
the field is given by attempt at improvement was to consider the electrons and
protons as two fluids each expanding separately from the
Ur = u sun. The particles within each fluid were interacting with
Uo= - worsinO (3.12) each other through large scale electric fields. This two-fluid
model produced results that were again too slow and too
UO = 0 dense, and the predicted total energy flux at 1 AU was twice
that observed. Later, observations showed that the solar
where u is the speed of the wind and w is the angular velocity wind came from restricted areas of the sun so that the ex-
of solar rotation (w = 2.7 x 10-6 rad/s). pansion of the wind was faster than the r2 appropriate to the

3-3
CHAPTER 3
spherical case discussed by Parker [1963]. Studies of the ecliptic. The transformations among the systems are given
effect of this geometrical difference, however, showed that in Russell [1971].
although the acceleration of the solar wind at small distances
from the sun was increased markedly, the speed at 1 AU
was not raised appreciably. A possible cause for the speed 3.2.2 Magnetic Fields
of the wind being higher than expected from simple theory
is the effect of magnetohydrodynamic waves on the wind Observations of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the
in the supersonic region. Theory indicates these waves will earth show that the field is, on the average, in the spiral
exert a force on the solar wind tending to accelerate it. At direction predicted by the steady state model but that there
1 AU, outward propagating Alfven waves (Section 3.2.5) are often large variations. The variations are ascribed to
are the predominant mode observed. Fast mode MHD waves several sources: waves, discontinuities, and certain large
(Section 3.2.5) propagating outward near the sun would also scale disturbances. These topics will be described in Section
acceleratethe wind. Since this latter mode is stronglydamped, 3.3. Here the basic large scale structure and average prop-
it is quite reasonable that if there was a wave flux near the erties will be described.
sun it would be lost before the wind propagated to 1 AU. The magnetic field in the solar wind is, as expected,
This consideration is important because fast mode MHD drawn out in a spiral such that the angle the field makes
waves are rarely seen at I AU. For both these wave accel- with the earth-sun line is a function of the velocity, low
eration mechanisms, an important problem is that the ex- solar wind speeds resulting in a tight spiral and faster speeds
istence of the required waves in the required region has not in a more radially aligned field. The angle increases with
been demonstrated. An alternative idea for wind accelera- distance from the sun. For the observed velocities of the
tion is that the electron thermal conductivity has been over- solar wind, the magnetic field has a spiral angle of about
estimated by using the classical values, and at the same 45° at the earth. The magnitude of the field is on the order
time, the thermal coupling between the electrons and protons of a few nanotesla (earlier literature used the term gamma,
has been underestimated. As with several other proposals ly = 1 nanotesla). An example of observed magnetic field
listed here, this seems to be an attractive possibility but the distributions is given in Figure 3-3a, b, and c [Hirshberg,
observations and analysis have not been carried far enough 1969]. The direction of the radial component (often referred
to make a definitive test. to as the x component) is, of course, either towards or away
from the sun. Wilcox and Ness [1965] found that the field
typically maintains one of these orientations for many days
3.2 PARTICLE AND FIELD and then rapidly changes to the other. The region of space
OBSERVATIONS in which an orientation is maintained is called a "sector".
The sector orientation is usually determined on the basis of
one-hour or three-hour averages of the radial field compo-
3.2.1 Coordinates nent, but the maintenance of the sign of Bx is typically seen
on a smaller time scale. Transitions from one sector to
There are two coordinate systems commonly used to another take place over a period of minutes or hours. At
describe observations of the interplanetary medium [Russell, transitions the direction of the interplanetary field usually
1971]: geocentric solar ecliptic (GSE) and the geocentric changes sign rapidly while maintaining more or less the
solar magnetospheric (GSM). In the GSE system, X points same magnitude. Sometimes the sector boundary on the
from the earth towards the sun, Y is in the ecliptic plane scale of minutes or tens of minutes displays only a single
and negative in the direction of planetary motion, and Z is change of sign. Sometimes the sign changes back and forth
parallel to the ecliptic pole. In GSM, X is along the earth many times and over many hours before the field settles
sun line and positive in the direction of the sun, Z is positive down to the new orientation. When this happens the position
toward the north and is perpendicular to X and in the plane of the boundary may be hard to define. An example of the
which contains X and the earth's magnetic dipole axis, and observed structure is shown in Figure 3-4. Typically, two
Y completes the right handed system of coordinates. or four sectors occur during a solar rotation. The sector
GSM coordinates are usually used to describe interac- structure can also be inferred from high latitude surface
tions between the solar wind and the earth's magnetic field magnetic variations [Svalgaard, 1973]. The accuracy of the
whereas GSE coordinates are used to describe the undis- procedure varies with season and station latitude. The sector
turbed solar wind. A second system sometimes used for the structure is stable over many months during the declining
undisturbed solar wind is the geocentric solar equatorial phase of the solar cycle, but changes from month to month
system in which the X axis remains in the ecliptic plane during the increasing phase. The sector structures and/or
pointing from the earth to the sun, but Y is parallel to the the high speed streams (Section 3.3.2) apparently order a
sun's equatorial plane and Z completes the system. The large amount of solar wind phenomenology. Studies of the
sun's pole of rotation is tipped at 7° to the plane of the typical behavior of the interplanetary medium within sectors

3-4
 SOLAR WIND
EXPLORER 33
796 THREE HOUR AVERAGES
NOV. 1966 - FEB. 1967
NORTH
20 NOV. 1966 TO FEB. 1967 ISOTROPIC

12
8

I 00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 >14
B (nT)
(a)

BELOW (45%)

TO SUN

X-Y ISOTROPIC
PLANE

=-900

(b)
o o
90 270

Figure 3-3. Observations of the interplanetary magnetic field. In this typ-

ical sample (a) the most common field magnitude is about 5
/ nT (1 y = I nT) but the average of the magnitudes is higher
because the distribution is skewed. (b) and (c) show the rel-
ative frequencies of the directions of the field. It tends to lie
1800 along the spiral direction appropriate to a velocity of about
450 km/s (i.e., about 45° ) and in the solar equatorial plane
(C) but there are significant deviations [adapted from Hirshberg,
1969].

are relatively simple to carry out using sector boundaries as In the vicinity of the earth a typical magnetic field in-
convenient time markers. The results of some of these stud- tensity IBIis about 6 nT, but hourly average values vary
ies are described in Section 3.3 on large scale disturbances. from about I nT to a high of 37 nT. The highest recorded
Observations from spacecraft that traveled to solar lat- single value was 170 nT observed on 4 August 1972 [Bur-
itudes of over 10° from the solar equatorial plane showed laga and King, 1979]. Figure 3-6 shows the distribution of
that the sector structure was dependent on latitude. The over 70 000 hourly values collected from satellites at 1AU
structure tends to disappear at higher latitudes, and the in- between 1963 and 1977. The distribution of the magnitude
terplanetary magnetic field then has the sign of the solar IBIis skewed towards high values. However, the distribution
magnetic field of the appropriate solar pole. The picture that of the log IBIis distributed normally with a mean of 0.75
has developed to explain these observations is shown in (IBI = 5.6 nT) and an rms deviation of 0. 18. For about 3%
Figure 3-5. Plasma leaves the sun predominantly at high of these hours log IBI exceeded the mean by at least 20,
latitudes and flows out and towards the equator where a that is IBI- 13 nT. When the field is high it typically
current sheet is formed corresponding to the change in mag- remains so for many hours, forming distinct events. There
netic field polarity. The current sheet is tipped relative to were about 100 such events observed between 1963 and
the sun's plane of rotation and warped so that as the sun 1974 of which 75% were associated with shocks or inter-
rotates the earth passes through the current sheet, experi- faces between interacting solar wind streams (Section 3.3.2).
encing periods of alternating polarities, that is, sectors. Periods of high-intensity field may persist for as long as 24

3-5
CHAPTER 3

1893

J16 x 1894

F12 x xx 1895

M10 x 1896

A6 1897

M3 00 1898

M30 e xexe 1899

J26 1900
Figure 3-5. Sketch of the current sheet responsible for the sector structure.
The sheet is warped and tilted relative to the plane of solar
rotation [Smith, 1979].

A19 1902

S 15 1903 hours. The persistence of a given level of |BI can be found

from the autocorrelation function which falls to 0.5 at about
012 1904 a 15-hour lag [Burlaga and King, 1979].
N8 1905 An important magnetic field parameter is the component
of the field perpendicular to the X-Y plane. This component,
D5 x x 1906 Bz, plays a central role in the coupling of the wind and the
earth's magnetic field such that when B, is southward and

1866

J17 1867 logB

F13 1868 104

M12 1869 3

Jl 1872

J28 1873

J25 1874 102

A21 1875

S17 1876 <log B>=0.746

014 1877 1 01 r

N10 1878 log B

0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6

D72 1879

0 4 8 12 16 20 24 >26
B (nT)
Figure 3-4. Two years of sector structure polarity. A small dot indicates
a day with polarity directed away from the sun; a big dot,
towards the sun; a cross, an ambiguous day; and a blank, a Figure 3-6. Distribution of 71431 hourly averaged values of the interplan-
data gap. Each line represents one solar rotation or 27 days: etary magnetic field magnitude |B|, and of log |B|. These data
The date of the first day of the rotation is given on the left- were collected between 1963 and 1977. The average value of
hand scale and the number of the rotation on the right-hand B is 6.09 nT but the average of log B corresponds to a value
scale. Note the strong tendency for sector structure to repeat of5.6 nT. The most common value of B is about 5 nT [Burlaga
on subsequent rotations [adapted from Wilcox et al., 1975]. and King, 1979].

3-6
 SOLAR WIND
YEARLY DISTRIBUTIONS OF HOURLYAVERAGES large, geomagnetic disturbances occur. Figure 3-7a shows
nT distributions of GSE 13, observed for each year from 1963
1963 to 1974 [Siscoe et al., 1978]. The figure gives the number
2 of times IBI, fell within each I nT bin. The number of values
1964 used in each histogram is also given. The distributions are
generally exponential, but with a high intensity tail. The
1965 exponent changes in a systematic way with the solar cycle.
These data are collected in Figure 3-7b which gives the
1966 probability that an hour chosen at random from the set of
over 50 000 hours of observation will fall in a particular 1
1967 nT bin. Of course, a figure of this type made using different
years of observation would differ somewhat from that shown.
1968 The finding that the most probable value of Bz is less than
1 nT is in general agreement with the notion that a steady
1969 spherically expanding solar wind would have no Bz com-
1969
ponent when measured in the sun's equatorial plane. The
Bz component is primarily due to disturbances such as waves
1970 or interacting parcels of the interplanetary medium.

1971

3.2.3 Protons and Electrons

1972
The solar wind plasma consists of protons, doubly charged
1973 helium ions, a small number of other positively charged
1965 1965 particles, and enough electrons so that the plasma is elec-
1974 3 trically neutral. The Debye length is about 10 m. Since
commonly 95% of the positively charged particles are pro-
tons, it is the protons that are usually referred to when
statements are made about the solar wind bulk properties
such as velocity, density, and temperature. In this section
the large scale general properties of the wind will be de-
scribed for protons and electrons. Alpha particles and heavy
10 20 30 ions will be dealt with in Section 3.2.4.
1BZ (nT)
(o)

TOTAL 1963- 1974

52929 HOURS
0.1 1 PER DAY

0.01 PER
1 WEEK

PER MONTH
0.001

I PER YEAR
0.0001

0.00001
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28
IBzI (nT) (b)

Figure 3-7. (a) The distributions of the magnitude of the hourly average value of the component of the interplanetary magnetic field perpendicular to the
ecliptic plane, IBzI. Data for each year from 1963 to 1974 are plotted. The data coverage varied from year to year. Note the changes in slope
and the high intensity tail. (b) Histogram of the occurrence frequency of IBzIbased on the 52 929 values used in the above distributions. The
ordinate gives the probability that an entry selected at random will fall in the particular I y bin. Levels for selected average recurrence periods
are marked. For example, the average time between observations of 13y > BZ > 12y is about one month [Siscoe et al., 19781.

3-7
CHAPTER 3
Solar wind properties do not vary randomly on a time particles/cm3. Most of the extreme density values are due
scale of hours. Instead the wind is organized mainly into to rarefaction and compression arising through stream in-
periods of slow plasma and fast plasma, with the slow and teractions or solar flare disturbances discussed in Section
fast regions interacting. The structure of these streams will 3.3.3. The proton temperature Tp, which increases with the
be discussed in Section 3.3.2. Here the interest will focus velocity, varies by a factor of twenty and has an average
on typical values of physical parameters. of 1.2 x 105in this data set.
Early plasma probes detected protons and other posi- The proton distribution function varies widely and is
tively charged particles but did not permit detailed descrip- usually not well represented by a single Maxwellian. Figures
tions of particle distributions to be made. However, the first 3-9a and b show examples of two-dimensional proton ve-
three moments of the distribution could be determined, that locity distributions. Figure 3-9a shows a simple distribution
is, the proton velocity, density, and (less exactly) the tem- with a single peak, corresponding to a single velocity and
perature. A typical distribution of speeds is shown in Figure density. Figure 3-9b shows a distribution with a strong sec-
3-8. The direction of flow is almost always from the sun ond peak corresponding to a plasma having two beams with
different velocities and densities. The most usual distribu-
tion is between these two and would show a single major
13,976 VELA 3 MEASUREMENTS peak with evidence for a high velocity tail. Note that in
20 JULY 1965 TO NOV.1967 both main peaks the spread in contours is greater in one
AVERAGE
FLOWSPEED direction than at right angles, that is, the temperatures par-
400 km/s allel and perpendicular to some direction (the direction of
MEDIAN FLOWSPEED the magnetic field) are not equal and are often given sep-
380 km/s arately. The temperature Tp,is 1/3 (T + 2T1 ) where i and
10 denote components parallel and perpendicular to the mag-
netic field. The average value of Ti/Tr is 1.5 with a range
of 0.7 to 2.8. Distributions that have two velocity peaks
can be described as two streams of protons moving relative
O to one another. The higher density streams are usually the
0
250 350 450 550 650 750 lower velocity ones.
FLOWSPEED (km/s) Solar wind electrons are more difficult to observe and
their properties have been described less fully than those of
Figure 3-8. A frequency distribution of solar wind speed [Hundhausen, the protons. In contrast to protons, electrons are subsonic
1972].Boththe averagespeedand the shapeof the distri- at earth. Observed distributions of electrons are shown in
butiondifferfrom year to year. Figure 3-10 [Feldman et al., 1975]. Note that because of
the subsonic velocity, the spreads in particle speeds are
(within a few degrees). The major causes of non-radial flow much larger than the bulk speed. Very low velocity elec-
are aberration and interaction of fast and slow solar wind trons, which would allow an actual measurement of the bulk
structures. The amount of deviation from radial flow due to speed to be made, cannot be measured at all because of
the angular velocity of the source of the solar wind at the observationaldifficulties. The figure shows four cuts through
sun is still a matter of debate. Although there is considerable the distribution. Figure 3-10a shows particle fluxes in the
variation in the velocity distributions for different time pe- direction parallel and anti-parallel to the electron heat flux.
riods, they all have nearly the same range of values. In Since the electron heat flux is along the magnetic field di-
Figure 3-8 there are few measurements with velocities lower rection these two cuts are also in directions parallel and anti-
than 275 km/s and in data sets from several other years there parallel to the magnetic field. Note that fluxes for each speed
were none. In the sample shown, values higher than 650 are not the same in two directions, indicating that a sub-
km/s were rare but in other years the upper frequency bin stantial heat flux is carried by the electrons. In fact, it is
with non-negligible sample number was 775 km/s. Veloc- the electrons that regulate the heat flux in the wind as a
ities of over 1000 km/s occasionally have been reported whole. The curves in the upper panel represent fits to the
after extremely energetic flares occurred on the sun. Au- points, the fits to the lower speeds being Maxwellians. Note
tocorrelation among speed measurements is high for lags of that although the two Maxwellians are excellent fits at low
less than 40 h, reflecting the stream structure (Section 3.3.2). speeds, they fail decisively at high speeds. In much of the
Table 3-1 shows average values and ranges for 3-hour av- data reported in the literature, the higher speed particles are
erage speeds for about 3.5 years of data [Feldman et al., fit with a second set of two Maxwellians or a somewhat
1977]. The average velocity given there is 468 km/s, some- more complex function as shown here. In Figure 3-10b the
what higher than that shown in Figure 3-8. data shown are from a plane perpendicular to the heat flux.
The density of the proton component is also ordered by Two data sets are shown: one for positive and one for neg-
the fast and slow velocity streams with an average of 8.7 ative directions along a line in the plane. The fluxes are the

3-8
 SOLAR WIND
Table 3-1. Average solar wind parameters

5-95% Range
Parameter Mean o Limit

speed (km/s) 468 116 320 to 710

density 8.7 6.6 3.2 to 20

(proton/cm3 )

MA 10.7 4.8 4.4 to 20

Ms 7.7 1.5 5.6 to 10

IBI(nT) 6.6 2.9 2.2 to 9.9

Tp (K) 1.2 x 105 9 X 104 1 x 104 to 3 x 105

Te (K) 1.4 x 10s 4 x 104 9 x 104to 2 x 105

Te/Tp 1.9 1.6 0.37 to 5.0

na/nP 0.047 0.019 0.017 to 0.078

Ta (K) 5.8 x 105 5 x 105 6 x 10

4
to 15.5 x 105

Ta/Tp 4.9 1.8 2.3 to 7.5

B p 0.7 0.9 0.11 to 1.7

Be 1.3 1.9 0.3 to 3.1

Bp + Be 2.1 2.4 0.5 to 4.6

CA(km/s) 50 24 30 to 100

Cs(km/s) 63 15 41 to 91
Information from Feldman et a1.,[1977])

same in these two directions showing that the electron dis- component electrons below 50 eV that can be well fit with
tribution function is symmetric about the magnetic field a bimaxwellian function are also known as the core elec-
direction. Again the data are fit with Maxwellians at low trons. The hot component or halo electron component is
speeds and more complex functions are fit to the residual defined as the remainder of the measured distribution func-
fluxes at high speeds. The low speed portions of electron tion after the cold component is subtracted. In this scheme
distribution functions are collision dominated, whereas the from 3 to 10% of the electrons belong to the hot component.
very high speed portions are collisionless. Observed distri- The energy at which fh begins to rise above fe is about 60
bution functions are consistent with a theoretical model in eV. The hot and cold components generally move relative
which the entire distribution at all velocities arises from the to one another along the magnetic field direction so that no
effects of Coulomb collisions [Scudder and Olbert, 1979]. net current flows in the frame of reference moving with the
Although there is not yet general agreement concerning protons. The total bulk velocity is observed to be within
the best method for describing and interpreting electron about 50 km/s of the proton velocity. The total heat flux in
observations, the data presentation that is used here is that the solar wind is primarily carried by the hot electron com-
of Feldman et al. [1977], in which the measured flux dis- ponent. If both halo and core components are fit with bi-
tribution is broken up into low and high speed parts as shown maxwellian distributions then the average core electron tem-
in Figure 3-10. The electron and proton densities and bulk perature is 1.2 x l05 K, whereas the average halo electron
velocities are set equal, consistent with the observations. temperature is 6.9 x l05 K. The value of 1.4 x 105 K
The electron distribution function is described as a super- given in Table 3-1 is the temperature derived from the fit
position of two distributions, one a cold component fe and of the distribution function as a whole. As can be seen from
the other a hot component fh, so that f = fe + fh. The cold Table 3-1, the electron temperature does not vary as widely

3-9
CHAPTER 3
0257 UT ON MARCH27, 1971

100 1916 UT ON MAY 20, 1971

100

50

-50-

-100 100
300 350 400 450 500
RADIAL VELOCITY (km/s) RADIAL VELOCITY (km/s)

(a) (b)

Figure 3-9. Proton velocity distributions. Two examples (a,b) of two-dimensional proton velocity distributions contoured for equal number density.
Contours A, B, C and D correspond to 0.001, 0.0032, 0.01 and 0.032 and contours E through N to 0.1 to 1.0 in steps of 0.1 of the peak
contribution to the proton number density [Feldman et al., 1974].

10-24
10
- IMP 8
10 24 IMP8
11/05/73 1703 UT 1703
11/05/73 1703 UT
= 3540 -2 6
84
AVC - 100 km/sec 10-26

10 -26
1 0-2 8

E 10-28

-3 0
10

-32

10 -32
0 5 10 15 20 O 5 10 15 20

VELOCITY (10 km/s) VELOCITY (103 km/s)

(o) (b)

Figure 3-10. Electron flux as a function of speed [Feldman et al., 1975]. (a) shows the flux parallel and anti-parallel to the direction of the electron heat
flux. (b) shows the fluxes in a perpendicular plane.

3-10
 SOLAR WIND
as the proton temperature. The electron thermal pressure is helium abundances may be associated with impulsive in-
usually, but not always, greater than the magnetic field jections into the wind of hot or cool coronal plasma as a
pressure (B = 8iinkT/B2 , Be> 1). Thus, although the pro- result of solar activity but there does not appear to be a one
ton thermal pressure is usually less than the magnetic field to one correlation. Helium abundance also shows a trend
pressure (Bp < 1), the average B calculated using the total toward larger values in higher velocity winds but this trend
thermal pressure is about 2 (Table 3-1). is time dependent and may change with the solar cycle. The
average abundances at velocities of 300 km/s vary between
3% and 4%, and at 500 km/s average abundances between
3.2.4 Other Ions 5% and 9% have been reported [Neugebauer,1981].
The helium and hydrogen components of the solar wind
Since helium is the second most abundant solar con- have almost the same speed at 1 AU. However, differences
stituent, it was expected to be present in the solar wind in of up to a few tens of kilometers are common, and the
quantities that could be detected by the early solar wind helium is usually moving faster than the hydrogen. The
probes. This expectation was fulfilled with the flight of average reported value of the ratio of the helium to hydrogen
Mariner II in 1962 [Neugebauer and Snyder, 1966]. How- speeds (va/vp) ranges from 1.001 to 1.035 and is always
ever, the measured values of the abundance, velocity, and positive. The direction of helium motion relative to hydro-
temperature of the helium component of the wind were so gen is generally along the direction of the magnetic field.
different from what would be expected on the basis of simple At I AU the velocity difference va - vp is in general pro-
theory that the behavior of helium is still not well under- portional to, but less than, the Alfven wave speed. Also,
stood. For a recent review of helium observations see
Neugebauer [1981]. Observationally, the helium properties
are ordered by large scale structures such as sectors, velocity
streams, and flare disturbances. These properties will be VELA 3
JULY 1965- JULY 1967
discussed further in Section 3.3. The simplest helium pa- 800
rameters to measure are relative abundance, velocity, and
temperature. The major unexpected results are that in the
vicinity of the earth, relative abundances of helium by num-
ber, na/np, vary from less than 10- 3 to more than 0.3, helium
velocities tend to be a few km/s larger than hydrogen ve-
locities, and the temperature of helium is usually about 3
or 4 times that of hydrogen. 600
Helium in the solar wind is almost always completely
doubly ionized, as would be expected because of the high
coronal electron temperatures. However, a few events have
been reported in which He+/He+ + reached levels as high
as 0. 1[Schwenn et al., 1980] and 0.3 [Gosling et al., 1980].
These events have been interpreted as the inclusion into the 400
wind of material from relatively cool chromospheric prom-
inences.
The distribution of relative abundance values of He+ +
by number measured by the Vela 3 satellites is shown in
Figure 3-11 [Robbins et al., 1970]. For this data set the
values ranged from 8. 1 x 10- 4 to 4.2 x 10- 1. The yearly 200
average abundance between 1962 and 1976 varied from 3%
to something over 5%. The helium abundances are not dis-
tributed randomly in the plasma but instead show systematic
behavior that has not yet been satisfactorily explained the-
oretically. Most values of na/np - 0. 15 in Figure 3-1 1 were
observed in solar wind reliably associated with major solar
flares [Hirshberg et al., 1972]. Although most helium abun- 0 O.10 0.20
dance enhancements are associated with flares, regions of HELIUM TO HYDROGENDENSITY RATIO
solar wind containing between 9% and 15% helium plasma
are sometimesseen in low speedwind with no association Figure 3-11. The distributionof solar windheliumto hydrogennumber
with major flares or interplanetaryshocks (Section 3.3.3). density [Robbins
ratiosreflected
ment events inettheal., 1970]
high The helium
abundance enhance-
tail are often
In general, the data suggestthat unusuallyhigh solar wind associatedwith majorsolar flares.

3-11
CHAPTER 3
Va - Vpis strongly dependent on the ratio of the solar wind another context in Section 3.1. 1. The two uses are so dif-
expansion time to the Coulomb collision slowing down time. ferent they almost never cause confusion.) The heliocentric
The expansion time scale is defined as the time required for distance at which freezing in occurs depends somewhat on
a solar wind ion to move through one density scale height. the type of particle involved because of the details of the
It has been suggested that the helium is accelerated to higher interactions. In slow, low temperature regions of the wind
velocities than hydrogen by waves in the interplanetary me- the abundances of 06+ to 0 7 + ions in the available data
dium but as yet there is no direct observational confirmation. set indicate a freezing in temperature of 2.1 x 106K and
The temperature of helium is almost always higher than the abundances of Fe7+ through Fe13 + yield 1.5 x 106K.
that of hydrogen, and it appears that there is a tendency for Other plasma, associated with solar wind accelerated by
the thermal velocities of the two components to be equal flares showed oxygen and iron freezing-in temperatures of
rather than for the temperatures to be equal. The most prob- 3 x 106 K [Bame et al., 1979], and iron charge states have
able value of Ta/Tp is between 2 and 4 but values as high indicated temperatures as high as 1.6 x 107 K.
as 10 are occasionally observed. Average values of Ta/Tp
calculated from different data sets have varied from about
3 to 5. It is not known if this difference is due to actual 3.2.5 Waves and Turbulence
changes in the solar wind or to inaccuracies in the measure-
ments. There is a positive correlation between Ta/Tp and Observations of the solar wind show that there are vari-
Va - Vp. The behavior of Ta is not understood theoretically ations in almost all quantities on all time scales. For ex-
but it has been suggested that the waves that can prefer- ample, as discussed in Section 3.2.2 the interplanetary mag-
entially accelerate helium may also heat the ions by an netic field of a uniform undisturbed wind should not have
amount roughly proportional to their masses. any Z component; however, hourly average Z components
In addition to 4He ions, solar wind 3He ions have been are about 1/3 the intensity of the field magnitude. This Z
detected. The 4 He+ +/3He+ + ratio has been measured both component is due to the presence of waves and discontin-
from foils left on the lunar surface and directly using an ion uities in the plasma.
composition experiment on ISEE 3. The results of the two Consideringthe solar wind as a turbulent medium, power
techniques are in agreement. The ISEE experiment found spectra have been calculated and compared with the theo-
on average 4He+ +/3He+ + of 2 1 + 0.2 x 103using more retical predictions based on magnetohydrodynamic turbu-
than 4000 observations; however, the distribution was very lence theory. Spectra of the magnetic field, particle density,
broad. Low ratios, which lasted a few hours, had a tendency and particle velocity variations have been given in the lit-
to characterize periods of low 4 He+ + flux [Ogilvie et al., erature.
1980]. Magnetic field data lend themselves to these studies
Some ions heavier than helium have been observed in because of the good time resolution and accuracy of the
the interplanetary medium. The observations are difficult to measurements. Examples of spectra in the 10-7 to 10-1 Hz
make because of the low ionic abundances. However, neon range are given in Figures 3-12a and 3-12b [Hedgecock,
has been collected on foils on the moon, and plasma probes 1975]. If the field could be described as that ideally present
have been able to resolve oxygen, iron, and silicon at times in a spherically expanding constant velocity solar wind with-
when the plasma temperatures are low. The relative abun- out fluctuations, there would be no components in the two
dances are within a factor of ten of coronal abundances, transverse directions. The top curve in Figure 3-12a gives
and the speeds tend to be the same as the speeds of the the power in the variations of magnitude. The power levels
helium observed at the same time. There does not appear in the magnitude are much lower than the levels in the
to be any further acceleration of heavy ions. The temper- components. The spectra of the two transverse components
atures however, apparently increase further with higher ion (T and N) are very similar and have been averaged to pro-
mass and measurements of oxygen temperatures suggest that duce the transverse spectrum Tr. A composite spectrum of
the thermal speeds of all constituents tend to be equal in the transverse power is shown in Figure 3-12b. Note the
the solar wind [Ogilvie et al., 1980]. different spectral indices used to fit the data in the different
The ionization state of heavy ions provides important frequency ranges. The magnetic field power spectrum for
information on the electron temperature at their source in periods greater than a day tends to flatten. The power spec-
the corona. The ionization state of the atom in the collision trum slope varies from day to day, or for lower frequencies
dominated corona is determined by a balance between ion- from sample to sample. In the 10- 5 to 10- 3 Hz range both
ization by electron collisions and recombination due to ra- the slopes and the absolute value of the power variations
diative and dielectronic processes. As the solar wind moves are consistent with a factor of 10 variation, [Hedgecock,
away from the sun, collisions become more rare, and beyond 1975]. When the spectrum was fitted with a line given by
some heliocentric distance the ionization state of the particle F, the average spectral exponent N for 17 periods in 1972
remains unchanged. This process, called "freezing in," per- was 1.27.
mits the particles to be used as tracers of their sources. Examples of power spectra of solar wind fluctuations in
(Note that the term "freezing in" has already been used in positive ion flux are shown in Figure 3-13a [Neugebauer,

3-12
 SOLAR WIND

A/f+f
6 ASYMPTOTE

neticfield. The R direction is along the average spiral di-

rection of the field, N is in the solar meridian plane and T
completesthe system. B is the magnitudeof the [Link]
verse (N, T) spectra[adaptedfrom Hedgecock,1975].(b)
A composite
magnitude of from
the
Themean transverse
magnetic
field.
directi is power
on spectrum
thealong
averagefor 1972
di-
spiral
meanspectratransverse A composite
[Hedgecock, 1975].
Hedgecock,
power
spectrum1975]. (b)e
for 1972
of rection the field, inis the solar meridianplane and T

e gyroradiousare the system.

gyroradius. complete
components asthe
A long period magnitude
marked. TRspectrum
velocity oftheis ofshown
is the average field.
the Ther
trans-in
Figure 3-13b from Coleman [1968].
4 Frequently, fluctuations in the solar wind can be rec-

STANDARD ERRORS/BANDWIDTHS Discontinuities will be discussed in Section 3.3. Although

10DAY I DAY a kinetic theory treatment is required for a proper description
of the behavior of waves, the magnetohydrodynamic theory
-7 -6 -5 -4 -3 is useful for classifying the waves [Barnes, 1979]. There
FREQUENCY (log 10 Hz) are three types of MHD waves, the transverse Alfvn (or
intermediate)wave, and fast and slow magnetoacousticwaves.
(a) The transverse Alfven wave is non-compressive with con-
stant magnitude of the magnetic field, but not constant di-
rection. The fluctuating magnetic field and velocity are re-
1975]. Curves A and D are for the noisiest and quietest 100 lated by
spectra of the 1728 spectra in the data set used in this study.
In the 10 second region these two power densities differ by b = ± (4iip)1/2v (3.17)
more than a factor of 100. Curves B and C are two different
types of averages of the entire data set. In curve B the values where b is the magnetic perturbation, v is the velocity per-
of the power density are simply averaged. In curve C the turbation, and p is the constant density. The velocity of an
logarithms of the power spectral density are averaged to Alfven wave is given by CA = B/(4iip)12/ . Typical values
avoid giving too much weight to the shape of the spectra of CAare given in Table 3-2.
from the most turbulent intervals. The error bars represent The two magnetoacoustic modes are compressive and
90% uncertainty levels. The enhancement at high frequen- their magnetic fluctuations are nearly linearly polarized. The
cies is probably due to fluctuations at the proton thermal velocities of the fast and slow waves are given by

3-13
CHAPTER 3

PERIOD FREQFREQ
(days) (cpd)
(cph)
10 643216 8 4 2 1 2 4 8 16 2.7 10.8
I I I I I I I

8
I 108

C
100 NOISIEST
14 LOG <POWER>
0 6

MARINER 2

13 10 TOT PWR (2) =9959 (km/sec)

100 QUIETEST
LOG <POWER>

1.0 10-7 10-5 -4 10-5

-3 -2
10 10 10 10 10 10
FREQUENCY (Hz)
(a) (b)
Figure 3-13. (a) Four different types of averages of the power spectral density of variations in the total charge flux of positive ions [Neugebauer,
1975].
(b) Power spectra of the solar wind velocity in 1962 [Coleman, 1968]. (Reprinted with permission from the American Astronomical Society

to be observed far from their place of origin. The Alfven

Vm = (C2A + C2S) C4A+ C4S wave, however, is not damped.
By far the most commonly observed wave in the solar
wind is the Alfven wave. An example is shown in Figure
1/2 3-14. In this figure R is the radial direction and N and T
- 2C2AC2S
cos 2 0 (3.18) are transverse directions. The velocity and field component
variationsare approximatelyrelatedaccordingto the expres-
sion above. The magnetic field magnitude and the plasma
density show very little variation. Interplanetary fluctuations
where Cs is the speed of sound, 0 is the direction of the are dominated by large amplitude aperiodic Alfven waves
wave normal relative to the field, and the plus is taken for more than 50% of the time [Belcher and Davis, 1971]. The
the fast mode and minus for the slow mode. Typical values clearest examples occur in high velocity streams (Section
of Cs are shown in Table 3-1 where Cs = [k(Te + 3Tp)/ 3.3.2) and their leading edges. These waves are propagating
m]1/2 . This expression assumes the electrons respond iso- outward in the rest frame which implies that they are pro-
thermally and the protons adiabatically to one dimensional duced in or near the sun below the critical point of the flow
sound waves as expected from the electrons role in heat rc. They have not yet been actually observed in the vicinity
conduction. In the limit of small amplitude waves, fluctua- of the sun and this is a very difficult observation to make
tions can be thought of as a superposition of these three without in situ detectors. In the vicinity of the earth, changes
types of MHD waves. However, the waves in space are not in the magnitudeof B are small with A|BII/|B - 0.06 whereas
small amplitude so that their behavior is more complex than the variation of the components is relatively large with ABX/
described by small amplitude MHD theory. The magnetoa- BI- 0.4 where i indicates a component [Burlaga and Turner,
coustic modes will be damped and so will not be expected 1976]. The direction of minimum variance of the field is
3-14
 SOLAR WIND
ALFVEN WAVES IN SOLAR WIND

4 25

bR 0 vR (O)
-4 -- 25

25

T b
-4 -25

4 25

B 0 0 (d)
8 12 16 20 24
TIME (hours)

Figure 3-14. Alfven waves in the solar wind. Curves a, b & c show that the strong variations of the magnetic field components occur simultaneously
with like variations of the velocity. Curve d shows that the field magnitude and density were both very steady [Belcher and Davis, 1971].

along the main field. The observed frequencies of the waves purpose the hydromagnetic approximation is used, that is,
are from the order of minutes to hours. In Figure 3-12a the the plasma flow will be approximated by the flow of a
low power levels in the spectrum of IBI compared to the dissipationless perfect gas. The magnetic field will be as-
spectrum of the variations of components is due to the dom- sumed to follow the flow. The approximation will be suf-
inance of Alfven waves. ficiently accurate to organize the observations of interplan-
Observations also show fluctuations in the solar wind etary disturbances and discontinuities discussed here. The
that are non-Alfvenic. For example, the leading edges of quantities that must be conserved across a hydromagnetic
high velocity streams contain large amplitude Alfven waves, discontinuity are mass, momentum, energy, the component
a non-Alfvenic component, and also perhaps an Alfvenic of the magnetic field perpendicular to the discontinuity, and
component propagating toward the sun [Belcher and Davis, the component of the electric field tangential to the discon-
[Link] latter two types of waves are probably of local tinuity. The jump conditions have been given by Spreiter
origin. and Alksne [19691.
There are very few unambiguous identifications of in- For a tangential discontinuity:
terplanetary magnetoacoustic waves. One case reported by
Burlaga [1968] is probably a fast magnetoacoustic wave Vn = Hn = 0 (3.19)
propagating across the magnetic field [Barnes, 1979]. [vt] 0, [Hj1 0, [p] 0, [P + H2/8ii] = 0,

for a contact discontiunity:

3.3. LARGE SCALE STRUCTURES
AND
DISCONTINUITIES
Vn = 0, Hn, 0, [v] = [H] = [P] = 0, [p] 0,
(3.20)
3.3.1 Discontinuities
for a rotational discontinuity:
Before discussing the types of disturbances that appear1/2
at 1 AU in the solar wind, it is helpful to describe the Vn = ± Hn/(4iip)l/2 [vl] = [H1]/(4iip)1 / 2 (3.21)
classifications of discontinuties more completely. For this [p] = [P] = lvl = [v2] = [H2 ] = [Hn] = 0,

3-15
CHAPTER 3
and fast and slow shock waves satisfy in the field magnitude. The distributions of these quantities
are shown in Figure 3-15, adapted from Tsurutani and Smith
Vn - 0, [p] > 0, [P] > 0, [Hn] = 0 [1979]. Small angle and magnitude changes occur most
frequently. Discontinuities are usually quite abrupt. A study
(pVn) (pVn) > (pvn) of Mariner 4 magnetic field data found that 50% of the
fast rot slow discontinuities analyzed had thicknesses less than 3500 km
and 10% less than 500 km [Siscoe et al., 1968].
2 Htand
increase
H through fast A class of discontinuities called directional discontin-
decrease slow shock waves. uities (DD) has been defined as events that are either ro-
tational or tangential discontinuitiesand show abrupt changes
in magnetic field of at least 30° in consecutive 30-second
Here v, p, P, and H are the velocity, density, pressure, and magnetic field averages. It is not possible to unambiguously
magnetic field intensity respectively in a frame of reference distinguish between tangential discontinuities and rotational
at rest with the discontinuity. Subscripts t and n refer to discontinuities among DDs, but is was found that in low
components tangent to and normal to the discontinuity sur- velocity solar wind tangential discontinuities are most com-
face and [] denotes the difference in the enclosed quantity mon whereas DDs consistent with outward propagating ro-
on the two sides of the discontinuity. The rotational dis- tational discontinuities become the predominant mode in
continuity is the steepening of an Alfven wave. Fast and high velocity winds [Solodyna et al., 1977].
slow shocks are the steepening of fast and slow magne- Shock discontinuities are also observed at earth and are
toaccoustic waves. Contact and tangential discontinuities do usually associated with solar events such as flares or perhaps
not propagate in a frame of reference at rest with the un- errupting prominences. The fast solar wind from such an
disturbed plasma. The three other discontinuities do prop- event accelerates the ambient wind in front of it. If the
agate in that frame. Contact discontinuities are not expected difference in velocity between the fast wind and the ambient
to be observed in the solar wind because they are difficult wind is larger than the speed of a fast magnetohydrodynamic
to form and would decay away quickly. Tangential and wave, a shock will form in the ambient wind at a position
rotational discontinuities and fast and slow shocks have been well in front of the boundary between the ambient wind and
observed. Slow shocks are very rare, and if not specifically the flare plasma. This shock is known as the forward shock.
stated otherwise, the word "shock" will be used here to refer As the fast plasma accelerates the ambient plasma, conser-
to a fast shock. vation of energy and momentum require the fast plasma
At earth, three types of discontinuities are common, fast itself to slow down. If the slowing down is severe enough
shocks and rotational and tangential discontinuities. Shocks another shock called the reverse shock will form within the
are formed in the solar wind by the steeping of the interaction fast plasma on the sun side of the boundary. When a detector
region between fast and slow solar wind parcels. They are passes through a forward shock, there will be a sudden
commonly associated with impulsive high speed solar wind increase in magnetic field, density, and temperature and a
from flare events. The interaction region between long lived decrease in velocity. Passage through a reverse shock will
streams of slow and fast solar wind rarely steepens into appear as a decrease in magnetic field, density, and tem-
shocks by the time the solar wind regions arrive at earth. perature and an increase in velocity. Both types of shocks
Rotational and tangential discontinuities are commonly ob- have been observed as shown in Figure 3-16 [Burlaga and
served at 1 AU and are apparently formed close to the sun King, 1979]. Forward and reverse shocks are found in flare
but the mechanism of formation is not known [Tsurutani associatedevents and reverse shocks occasionally are formed
and Smith, 1979]. Since the magnetic fields are measured during the interaction of long lived streams of slow and fast
in space with a smaller sampling interval than particles, solar wind. However, shocks are not as common as DDs
most studies of discontinuities have used observational cri- and occur once every few days at sunspot maximum and
teria based on changes in the magnetic fields. The frequency less frequently at low sunspot number.
of occurrence of discontinuities will depend on the selection The jump conditions at shocks (Rankine Hugoniot con-
criterion but with carefully designed criteria it is found that ditions) allow the strength of the shock and the direction of
tangential and rotational discontinuities occur at a rate of the normal to the shock to be determined if the plasma and
one or two per hour. The mean time interval between arrivals field properties are known accurately enough. For strong
of discontinuities can typically be described by a Poisson shocks the direction of the normal to the shock can be found
distribution over the interval of from perhaps 10 minutes to from
an hour, but the rate of occurrence varies strongly on a time
scale of several days. Even on a time scale of several solar n = + (B1 x B2 ) X (B 2 - Bl), (3.23)
rotations, the average rate varies by a factor of more than
2 [Tsurutani and Smith, 1979]. Two important parameters where B1 and B2 are the observed fields before and after
that characterize the discontinuities are the angle through shock passage and the sign depends on whether the shock
which the magnetic field rotates and the percentage change is forward or reverse. A wide range of shock normals has

3-16
 SOLAR WIND

IAU 1AU

10 10

0.1
0.1

30 60 90 120 150 180 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

7 (degrees) B/B L

(a) (b)

Figure 3-15. Normalized distributions of (a) the field rotation angle n across discontinuities and of (b) the relative field change ABi/BL,where BL is the
larger of the field magnitudes on either side of the discontinuity. The two plots in each panel are the normalized distribution plus or minus
one standard deviation [Tsurutani and Smith, 1979].

been observed, and although most normals lie within 45° variable, but both quantities also exhibited a good deal of
or so of the earth-sun line, almost any orientation can occur. order (Figure 3-17). During a 27-day rotation period of the
In addition, the flares that cause the strongest shocks tend sun, several intervals of higher than average speed occured.
to occur within 45° of the central meridian of the sun but As seen in the figure, the high speed intervals tended to
sometimes flares occurring near the solar limbs cause shocks recur on the next rotation. The proton density typically
to appear at earth's orbit. The Mach numbers of most of maximized before the velocity. These high-speed corotating
the few shocks for which determinations have been made (that is, rotating with the sun) streams are one of the out-
tend to be rather low, about 2 or 3, but stronger shocks do standing organized features of the solar wind. A particular
occur [Hundhausen, 1972]. stream may persist for many months or longer than a year.
They are responsible for recurrent geomagnetic storms that
characterize the declining phase of the sunspot cycle. The
streams are imbedded within the sector structure, that is,
3.3.2 Solar Wind Streams magnetic sector boundaries typically precede the velocity
rise by hours or days. The solar sources of the streams are
The earliest continuous observations of the solar wind the low temperature, open magnetic field regions known as
were those from Mariner 2 [Neugebauer and Snyder, 1966] coronal holes [Neupert and Pizzo, 1974].
which found that the solar wind speed and density were The properties of the stream structure have been exten-
3-17
CHAPTER 3
INTENSE MAGNETIC FIELDS INTENSE MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEAR A SHOCK NEAR AN INTERFACE
NO SHOCK

30 20

20 l0
20

10 0

450
E 450
350 350

100 100

I I

10 E

I I I I

10 105

15 17 19 21 1113 15 17 19 23 25 27 29 31 1 3 5 7 9
MAY 1972 JAN 1967 JAN 1974 FEB 1974

(a) (b)

Figure 3-16. Shocks and stream interfaces. (a) gives hourly average data for two examples of shocks detected in the solar wind. Note the rise in velocity,
temperature, density and magnetic field at the solid vertical line. The dashed line indicates the end of the shocked region. (b) shows a stream
interface. The interface region is characterized by an abrupt drop in density and rise in temperature. It is the region between the density and
temperature maxima and is bounded by the vertical lines. Although both the shocks and the interface region are characterized by very high
magnetic fields in these examples, that feature does not always occur (see Figure 3-23 for magnetic field behavior across a shock), [Burlaga
and King, 1979].

sively analyzed. The structure observed at 1 AU is partly material will form on both sides of the boundary between
due to the structure of the wind as it leaves the sun, and the streams.
partly to the evolution of that structure due to the interaction The boundary between low and high speed streams has
of low and high speed streams emmitted from a rotating a distinctive character and is called a stream interface region.
sun. An intuitive idea of the interaction is easily developed It is characterized by an abrupt drop in density, a sharp rise
by the following picture. Assume low speed wind leaves in temperature, and a rise in velocity that may be small. An
the sun's neighborhood to the west of the source of high example of a stream interface is given in Figure 3-16 [Bur-
speed wind, that is, at a position further along in the di- laga and King, 1979]. This figure also shows an example
rection of rotation. This means that as the sun rotates the of an interface associated with a very intense magnetic field.
high speed region rotates to the angular position previously Magnetic field change is not a defining characteristic of
occupied by the low speed source region. Then, viewed interfaces and often is not present.
along a radius vector to the sun, the low speed parcel of A study of the characteristics of selected solar wind
wind will have a high speed parcel of wind overtaking and streams was made by Gosling et al. [1978] who superposed
compressing it. As the high speed material increases the data using 23 very abrupt interfaces as the zero time point
velocity of the low speed material, the low speed material for the data. The data were extremely well ordered by this
will become compressed. At the same time, due to conser- procedure, as is seen in Figure 3-18. The figure gives the
vation of momentum, the high speed material will be slowed one hour average data for 100 hours both before and after
and its density will increase. Thus a ridge of high density the interfaces. The error bars are the estimated error of the

3-18
 SOLAR WIND
800 100
ROTATION 1967

600 1

23
800AUGSEPT. SEPT. 28 OCSePT.
I I6 I I I SEPT.
I II8 13
OCTSEPT. OCSEPT.
21 100
600 ROTATION 1968 10

400

SEPT. SEPT.28
28 OCT. OCT 8 OCT. 13 OCT. 18
800 I I 00
ROTATION 1969

600 10
z

400

OCT. 20 OCT. 25 OCT. 30 NOV. 4 NOV. 9 NOV. 14

800 100
600 ROTATION 197 10
400

NOV. 16 NOV. 21 NOV. 26 DEC. I DEC, 6 DEC. 11

800 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 100
ROTATION 1971

600 10

400

DEC. 13 DEC. 18 DEC. 23 DEC. 28

1962

Figure 3-17. Three-hour averages of the solar wind proton density (light line) and flow speed (heavy line) from Mariner 2 on its flight toward Venus in
1962. Each panel presents 27 days of data. Note the velocity stream structure and the tendency for recurrence of streams on each solar
rotation [Neugebauer and Snyder, 1966]

3-19
 ALPHA- PROTON ALPHA FRACTION (%)
SPEED DIFFERENCE (km/sec) o o o o o
-2
PROTON DENSITY (cm) THERMAL PRESSURE (dyne cm )

ALPHA- PROTON
I I I I
TEMPERATURE RATIO FLOW SPEED (km/sec) FLOW ANGLE (deg)
0 D - 0 0 0 0
 SOLAR WIND

5
2.2 xlO 2.2 x105

1.4

at that position. On the average there is discontinuity in the relative velocity changes sign, and in this region,3-21
the

Figure3-18 Superposed epoch analysis of one-hour average plasm properties in 23zero

[Link]
time is defined as being the time of an abrupt interface
. No streams with more gradual intervaces (Figure 3-16) were included in the analysis [Gosling
19
et.

Figure 3-18. Superposed epoch analysis of one-hour average plasma properties in 23 streams. The zero time is defined as being the time of an abrupt
interface. No streams with more gradual interfaces (Figure 3-16) were included in the analysis [Gosling et al., 1978].

mean. Figure 3-18a gives the proton thermal pressure, the density of about 7 cm-3 at the interface. This discontinuity
proton density, the flow angle in the ecliptic plane and the takes place on a time scale of minutes.
flow speed. The interface occurs when the speed is still Figure 3-18b gives the temperatures of the protons and
quite low, about 400 km/s. Three hours after interface pas- electrons parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field.
sage, the average speed is about 480 km/s, but the maximum All four quantities change discontinuously at the interface
average speed of 560 km/s is not reached until 1.5 days and both electron temperatures return to near their low speed
later. The plasma near the interface is accelerated by the values three hours after the interface passes, but both proton
stream-stream interaction. Since the interaction region has temperatures remain elevated. Note that the temperature
the shape of an Archimedes spiral (for the same reasons scales are not the same for the protons and electrons and
discussed in Section 3.2.2, for the magnetic field direction) that the electron temperature increase is relatively small.
the low speed plasma is deflected toward the west whereas The properties of the helium in the solar wind also show
the high speed plasma is deflected towards the east. A shear organization when analyzed according to stream structure.
flow occurs at the interface. Magnetic sector boundaries Figure 3-18c shows that the abundance of helium minimizes
occur in the low speed wind preceding the interfaces. They about a day before the interface and that both the helium
typically appear from 1.5 days to 1.5 hours before the in- temperature and the ratio of alpha particle temperature to
terfaces. The total pressure (that is, particle plus magnetic proton temperature are discontinuous. In most of the stream
field) peaks approximately at the interface although the pro- structure the helium is, on average, flowing faster than the
ton density and proton thermal pressure are already declining hydrogen, but during the day before the interface is crossed

3-21
CHAPTER 3
proton speed exceeds the alpha particle speed by a few the driven gas is shown in Figure 3-19, but its exact position
km/s. is often very difficult to identify observationally. A reverse
shock may form behind the discontinuity.
The driver gas itself, which typically arrives at earth
3.3.3 Solar Flare Disturbances about 5-10 hours after the shock, is often characterized by
enhancement in the helium abundance that commonly ex-
The second major interplanetary structure that orders the ceeds 15% helium by number and may reach more than
solar wind is the solar flare disturbance. Major flares eject 20%-25% [Hirshberg et al., 1972]. On some occasions the
high speed plasma into the wind, which results in a dis- helium enhancement is not seen or it may be seen later in
turbance propagating to the earth and beyond. The disturb- the event. In Figure 3-19 this is interpreted as indicating a
ance is shown schematically in Figure 3-19 [Bame et al., patchy distribution of helium enhanced plasma. The number
of particles released into interplanetary space by major flare
A POSSIBLE GEOMETRY OF FLARE EXPELLED
events is estimated to be on the order of 1039-1040 particles
PLASMA DRIVING
A SHOCK WAVE or 1015-1016 g. The driver gas is often also characterized
SHOCK WAVE COMPRESSED by lowproton [Goslinget al., 1973]and/orelectron tem-
peratures and bidirectional streaming of electrons. These

FLAREEJECTA loops as shown in Figure3-19. Such loopshave apparently

been observed [Burlaga et al., 1981]. Examinations of the
ionization states of heavy ions in plasma associated with
flares indicate that at least part of the flare ejecta originates
in coronal regions with temperatures of 3-4 x 106 K. The
driver gas has been slowed down on its way from the sun
to the earth by interaction with the ambient solar wind. Thus
the observed velocity of the driven gas will be less than the
mean transit velocity of that gas from the sun to the earth.
Typical values of the ratio of observed velocities to mean
transit velocities for a series of major flare-shock events is
about 0.8 [Hirshberg et al., 1972]. The interplanetary mag-
SUN netic field during flare disturbances often reaches very high
values (30-40 nT) in the direction perpendicular to the eclip-
Figure 3-19. A schematic diagram of a possible geometry for the solar tic plane. Since the velocity of the driver and disturbed gas
wind disturbance caused by a major solar flare [Bame et al., is high, and if these strong fields are southward, then the
solar wind will interact strongly with the earth's magnetic
field and will drive impressive geomagnetic storms and au-
1979]. The rapidly moving flare plasma compresses the roras. The storms reflect the structure of the flare disturb-
ambient wind before it and a shock is formed. Studies in- ance. The classical storm begins with a sudden commence-
dicate that for major disturbances the shock expands on a ment caused by the abrupt increase in dynamic pressure on
broad front so that its shape when the shock arrives at 1 the magnetopause that occurs when the shock is crossed.
AU can be approximated by a half circle of radius 0.6 AU The initial phase of the storm, during which the earth's field
and center 0.4 AU [Hirshberg, 1968; Rickett, 1975]. At the is enhanced but not disturbed is due to the shocked region
shock the density, proton temperature, magnetic field, and flow when the magnetic field in that region is northward.
velocity increase abruptly as the shocked gas is entered. When and if the field turns southward the main phase of
The density and velocity may or may not continue to in- the storm develops.
crease in the post shock region depending on the details of
the delivery of energy from the flare site to the solar wind
and also on the structures through which the shock propa- 3.4 LONG TERM VARIATIONS
gated on its way from the sun to the earth. For example, if
a shock is observed in the low speed wind preceeding or
following a stream, the density and velocity change at the 3.4.1 Solar Cycle
shock will be relatively large. However, if observed near
the density peak or in the high speed wind, a disturbance It was expected that the interplanetary medium varied
with the same initial conditions at the sun will show a with the solar cycle even before in situ observations of the
relatively small change in velocity, although the change in solar wind began. Fluxes of particles from the sun were
density may still be considerable [Hirshberg et al., 1974]. believed to be the cause of geomagnetic activity and aurora
A discontinuity between the shocked ambient plasma and and it was well established that these phenomena exhibited

3-22
 SOLAR WIND
a solar cycle variation. The variation of the solar output
during the eleven year solar cycle has many manifestations; 50

for example, sunspot numbers, major solar flares, and the 100 (a)
solar wind velocity. Distinctions should be made between 100
the solar cycle as expressed in each of the various quantities.
Although all solar cycle variations will have the same period 0 1964 1968 1972 1976
they may have different phases, relative amplitudes, and
shapes. It is common practice to use the variations of sunspot 500
numbers as the standard for the solar cycle and to compare
450 -
the changes in all other quantities to the sunspots. Here the
term "solar wind cycle" will be used to denote the changes 400
in the various interplanetary parameters. 0.84

Before direct observations were begun, studies of geo- 0.76

magnetic activity had shown that the variations in the in- (c)
terplanetary medium were such that minimum solar cycle 0.6

conditions at earth's orbit occurred (on the average) about 0 60

I to 1.5 years after sunspot minimum. Also, geomagnetic 2.25

storms characterized by sudden beginnings were most com-

mon at sunspot maximum, but storms tending to recur on 2.00
successive solar rotations were more common about three 1(d)
years after maximum. The sudden commencements are due
to solar wind shocks which are most common at sunspot 1.50
maximum. Recurrent storms are caused by long-lived rel- 5-
atively steady high speed streams in the solar wind such as (e
those observed in 1962 and 1973-74, that is, during the 4

phase of decreasing sunspot numbers.

The solar wind has now been observed at least inter- 3
1964 1968 1972 1976
mittently for almost 20 years and solar cycle variations of YEAR

several parameters have been established. Figure 3-20

[Feynman, 1983] shows the variations of some of these Figure3-20. Longtermvariationsof selectedquantities.
The toppanel
quantities. Figure 3-20a gives the annual mean sunspot num- (a) shows the annual mean sunspot number. The second
ber from 1962 to 1978. Figure 3-20b shows the annual mean panel (b) gives the annual mean [Link] third panel
(c) showsthe yearlyaveragedvaluesof logarithmsof hourly
velocity of the solar wind. The first few values are joined interplanetary magnetic field magnitudes. The observed dis-
by a dashed line to indicate that the data sample was too tribution of hourly IMF is log normal. The fourth panel (d)
small
[Link] give an accurate showsthe yearlyaverageof hourlyvaluesof the magnitude
of the z componentof the IMF. The final (e) panel gives
There is also a solar cycle variation in the magnitude of the percentage abundance of helium by number. The arrows
the interplanetary field that is most clearly seen in the yearly indicate that only limits on the values could be determined
mean value of the logarithm of IBI as shown in Figure [Feynman,
1983].
3-20c. The data exhibit relatively low mean values, cor-
responding to IBI about 5 nT in 1964, 1965, 1975, 1976 1966 were sparse but what information there is indicates
and 1977. The mean log IBI is remarkably constant through- that the mean velocity observed in 1962, during the declin-
out the cycle between 1966 and 1974 corresponding to IBI ing leg of solar cycle 19, was high with a velocity of about
about 5.8 nT. The large rise to IBI about 6.9 nT appearing 490 km/s whereas in 1964 and 1965 it was near 400 km/s.
at the beginning of the new sunspot cycle shows that the The distinction between the shape of the sunspot cycle vari-
solar wind magnetic field can differ from cycle to cycle. ation and the solar wind cycle variation is clearly shown by
The yearly averages of the hourly averaged magnitude the velocity. Here the highest yearly average velocities are
of B,,(IBZI), are also compared to the sunspot number in observed during years dominated by recurring high speed
Figure 3-20d. Here BZis defined in GSE coordinates and solar wind streams. That this is nonetheless a solar cycle
the hourly average is taken by including the sign of Bz, that variation is shown by the fact that the declining phase of
is, if Bz were of constant magnitude and negative for half each sunspot number cycle exhibits such a series of recurrent
of the hour and positive for the rest, IBzIwould be zero. geomagnetic storms.
There are two maxima in (IBzI), one before and one after The averaged helium abundance in Figure 3-20e shows
sunspot maximum. It is not known if this double maximum a solar cycle variation much more like that of the sunspot
is a common form of the (IBI)solar cycle variation. number. The abundance near sunspot minimum in 1962-65
The variation in the yearly average solar wind speed (v) and 1976 is just above 3%, whereas 5% was the abundance
from 1966 to 1978 is shown in Figure 3-20b. Data before typical of sunspot maximum conditions.

3-23
CHAPTER 3
3.4.2 Secular Variations typically 1 AU at earth's orbit, the plasma acts as a fluid
on a much smaller spatial scale, because plasma instabilities
Little information exists on the variation of the solar and wave particle interactions produce a small equivalent
wind for time scales longer than a solar cycle. In Figure mean free path. For many applications it is good approxi-
3-20c it appears that the interplanetary magnetic field in- mation to treat the solar wind as a magnetohydrodynamic
tensity in 1979 near the maximum of the current solar cycle fluid interacting with the earth's field. For a full discussion
was larger than at any time in the past, but Figure 3-20b of the interaction of the wind and the magnetosphere the
shows that the velocity was quite close to values typical of process of magnetic reconnection or merging is important;
the preceding maximum. It has also been inferred from however, its major effect is to feed energy into the mag-
geomagnetic records that the solar wind was in some sense netosphere rather than to affect the flow around the mag-
weaker during the early years of this century than it has netosphere and so it is beyond the scope of this chapter.
been recently [Feynman and Crooker, 1978], and from au- See Chapter 8. A further simplification is usually made in
roral records that it was also weak in the early years of the the calculations by assuming the Alfven Mach number of
19th century [Feynman and Silverman, 1980]. The lack of the solar wind flow is large. This decouples the fluid equa-
aurora during the Maunder minimum in the 17th century tions from the magnetic equations so that the properties of
again indicates a weak wind ISuess, 1979]. A revaluation the flow can be determined by solving the gas dynamic
of the auroral record from 450 AD to 1450 AD convincingly equations, and subsequently the magnetic field can be found
shows a periodicity in occurrence frequency with an average from the flow.
period of about 87 years [Siscoe, 1980] which almost cer- The shape of the forward part of the magnetosphere is
tainly reflects a solar wind variation. calculated by neglecting the magnetic field pressure in the
solar wind outside the magnetosphere boundary and the
particle pressure inside the boundary. The remaining pres-
3.5 THE CLOSE NEIGHBORHOOD sures are then set equal on the two sides, that is, the dynamic
OF THE EARTH pressure of the solar wind flow outside is balanced by the
magnetic field pressure inside.
The flow around the magnetosphere can then be cal-
3.5.1 Magnetosheath culated. To simplify the calculations further the magneto-
sphere is often approximatedas an axisymmetric body formed
As the magnetized solar wind flows past the earth, the by the rotation of the equatorial trace of the magnetosphere
plasma interacts with the earth's magnetic field and confines boundary around the earth sun line. The resultant flow is
the field to a cavity, the magnetosphere. Since the proton quite sensitive to the ratio of specific heats y. Observations
flow of the solar wind is almost always highly supersonic favor a y of 5/3 [Auer, 19741 and this value was used in
and super-Alfvenic, a shock, called the bow shock, forms the model calculations discussed here.
sunward of the magnetospheric cavity. The configuration is The model flow in the high Mach number approximation
shown schematically in Figure 5 of Chapter 8. The solar is illustrated by Figure 3-21 [Spreiter and Alksne, 1969].
wind flows across the bow shock in front of the earth where In Figure 3-21 a, the lines of constant ratio of magnetosheath
it is slowed to subsonic velocities. It is deflected by the density to solar wind density are shown. The sheath density
obstacle presented by the earth's field at the boundary des- is high in the forward part of the magnetosphere reaching
ignated as the magnetopause in Figure 8-5. The wind then a maximum in the subsolar region. As the plasma flows
flows generally antisunward down the flanks of the mag- back toward the magnetospheric flanks, it becomes less
netosphere carrying the interplanetary field with it. A typical dense and values less than one begin to appear near the
distance between the earth's center and the subsolar point magnetopause at about 7 REbehind the earth. Figure 3-21b
on the magnetopause (the boundary between the solar wind shows both lines of equal velocity ratio and temperature
and the magnetosphere) is 10 earth radii (RE). The shock ratio. Since the fluid approximation is used, the temperatures
is about 3 RE sunward of the magnetopause at the subsolar of the electrons and protons are assumed to be the same,
point. The region between the shock surface and the surface and for comparison with observation they are assumed equal
of the magnetosphere is called the magnetosheath. to the measured proton temperatures. The numbers labeling
The problem of calculating the flow of the solar wind the lines and written on the magnetopause side of the mag-
plasma past the earth using the full plasma equations is netosheath are the temperature ratios, and the numbers on
prohibitively difficult. Even in the magnetohydrodynamic the bow shock side are the velocity ratios. The stagnation
approximation, the problem has not been treated in general. point is labeled at zero velocity, which of course is un-
The high conductivity of the solar wind and the large kinetic realistic as far as expectations of observations are concerned.
energy density of the particles permits the approximation to However, slowing and heating of the plasma in the subsolar
be made that the magnetic field configuration can be treated stagnation region is observed. As the plasma moves back
as though the field is frozen into the flow. Although the along the flanks it begins to cool and increase in speed.
solar wind proton mean free path for Coulomb collision is Figure 3-21c shows the stream lines of the flow.

3-24
 SOLAR WIND
M = 8 y5/3

3- DENSITY, P VELOCITY, V
TEMPERATURE, T V/V
0.85

SHOCK SHOCK
WAVE WAVE 0 8
2-

T/T
0.6 II.88
2.4 MAGNETOSPHERE 14.66 MAGNETOSPHERE
BOUNDARY 5 00 BOUNDARY

EARTH 21.48 EARTH

1.0 0 -1.0 0 .0 0 -1.0

X/D 2
22.3 - 21.3
T 2 v

(o) (b)

3- r SHOCK

STREAMLINES
VELOCITY
CONTOURS

0.85 v/v o

MAGNETOPAUSE
0.6

x/D
(c)

(b) the
Figure 3-21. Flow in the magnetosheath in the gas dynamic approximation for the high Mach number case (M = 8). (a) gives the density and
temperature and velocity contours. The subscript - denotes quantities in the undisturbed wind at "infinity". The non-subscripted quantities
are the parameters within the magnetosheath. Lines of constant ratio of magnetosheath in undisturbed quantities are given. The shape of the
contours for velocity and temperature are the same but the ratios differ as marked. The jump relation for the temperature is given in (b). In
(c) the velocity contours are given again, along with the stream lines. The formula at the bottom of (c) gives the jump relations across a
shock of arbitrary angle with the incident flow. Subscript I indicates values just behind the shock. The abscissas are normalized so the
distance from the center of the earth to the subsolar point on the magnetopause is taken as one [Spreiter and Alksne, 1969; Spreiter et al.,
1966].

3-25
CHAPTER 3

B A

3- 2.5

1.5 2.2

2.4
2- Vo 8/Boy -2

flowshown
in Figure
(Reprinted with 3-21 The field
3-1970].
permission fromdirections
PergamonarePress,
as shown
Ltd. in 1970.)
(a), (b), and (c).
/B The jump relations at the shock are indicated and the(b)
,~
O

Figure 3-22Magnetosheath
magnetic fields for three orthogonalcomponents of the interplanetaryfield calculatedbyassuming
the field is frozen
flow
Figure
shown3-21.
in Thefield directionsareshown in (a), (b), and(c). Thejump
relationsat the shockare indicatedandthe

dashed
lines
indicate
contours
1970].(Reprinted
ofequal
intensity
withpermission
ration,
whereas
fromPergamon
thesolid
Press,Ltd.@
lines
follow
thedirections
ofthefield
lines
[Alksne
and
Webster,
1970.)

3-26
 SOLAR WIND
The magnetic field configuration is computed in this The observed flow and averages of the magnetic fields
approximation by assuming the field is carried by the flow. in the magnetosheath agree satisfactorily with the magne-
The results are shown in Figure 3-22 [Alksne and Webster, tohydrodynamic models. The magnetosheath magnetic field
1970]. The incident field has been broken up into three is typically very disturbed but the vectors tend to be aligned
orthogonal components with directions as shown on the with the magnetopause as shown in Figure 3-24a [Fairfield,
figure. An arbitrary incident magnetic field will be described 1967]. The average relative magnitudes of the magneto-
by an appropriate superpositionof the three cases. The stream sheath field for 10 RE intervals along the earth-sun line are
lines are given by the solid lines and the lines of equal shown in Figure 3-24b [Behannon and Fairfield, 1969]. The
magnetic field ratio are given by the dashed lines. The ratio of the magnitude of the magnetosheath field to the
magnetic field lines become draped over the magnetosphere magnitude of the interplanetary field varies from 4 near the
and tend to be aligned with the magnetopause direction. most sunward portion of the bow shock to less than 1 far
Calculated values of magnetosheath electric fields are down the flanks.
shown in Figure 3-23 [Alksne and Webster, 1970] but these The variability of the magnetosheath fields is reflected
have not been measured. Since there is no electric field in the power spectra as shown in Figure 3-25 [Fairfield,
associated with field aligned flow, electric fields for only 1976]. The low frequency power levels of the variations of
two orthogonal magnetic field directions are shown, and the the field magnitudes differ by four orders of magnitude
electric field due to an arbitrary magnetic field can be found depending on the day. The September and November 1967
by combining the two cases shown. spectra are probably the most representative. Spectral peaks
Measurements of the shape of the magnetosphere show near 0.05 Hz and 0.07 Hz are typical but the exact frequency
some asymmetry that is not present in the results calculated and relative magnitude are variable. The 31 July spectrum
from the high Mach number approximation. This asymmetry was taken on a day when the solar wind Mach number was
probably arises because of the the asymmetric magnetic field low. At these times the power in magnetosheath variations
in the magnetosheath and the coupling between the fluid is also quite low. The dashed lines with slopes of 1/f and
3
flow and the magnetic field. All of these effects will lead 1/f are shown for comparison. The spectra typically steepen
to magnetosheath pressure asymmetries which will distort at frequencies above the proton gyrofrequency. At frequen-
the magnetosphere to some extent. In addition, the orien- cies between 3.3 x 10 4 and 2.6 x 10-3 Hz, which are
tation of the earth's magnetic dipole relative to the direction lower than those shown in the figure, the average slope is
of incidence of the solar wind must be taken into account. slightly steeper than 1/f. There is a tendency for the per-

3- Ez/Eoz E/Ey
2.9
L x, y) Ez /Ez (x, y) = E/Eoy n 2.7

0.9 2.5
Eoz EOy = Boz
B 2.5

t E

2.6

0.4
1.25 2.2

CONTOURS

Figure 3-23. Magnetosheath electric fields calculated under the same assumptions as in Figure 3-22. The relations at the shock jump are indicated in each
panel [Alksne and Webster, 1970]. (Reprinted with permission from Pergamon Press, Ltd. © 1970.)

3-27
CHAPTER 3
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

- AVERAGE RELATIVE MAGNITUDE 1966- 1968 N 1661

--- 58 053

Figure 3-24. Observations of the magnetosheath field: a) Averages of the

magnetosheath magnetic field intensity normalized to the
simultaneously measured interplanetary field. For each AX
bin measurements are taken from all available values of y
and z. The field is intense in the subsolarregion and de-
creases to less than the interplanetary value in the distant
flanks [Behannon and Fairfield, 1969]. (Reprinted with per-
mission of Pergamon Press, Ltd. © 1969.) b) Projections
of vectors measured in the magnetosheath into the X, y plane
20 10 o -10 -20 -30 40 - 50 60 -70 -80 for four different orientations of the interplanetary field,
[Fairfield 1967].
(a)

-20 -15 -10 -5 -20 -10 -5

20
-25 1 20

°
00 < 1800 3OY 180 °<0
<10100
< 360
10° XSE XSE
20 20

-20 -15 -15 -10 -5

YSE YSE

15 1

00< < 1800 <, < 3600

-30< < - I 00 XSE -300 < XSE

20 20

(b)
3-28
 SOLAR WIND
10 pause or within the magnetosheath also contribute to ob-
EXLORER
12 served waves in the magnetosheath.

10 3.5.2 Bow Shock

The flow of the solar wind past the earth is usually but
10NOV 1 1967 not always highly supersonic and superalfvenic as far as the
3:00 - 3:30
MARINE
4 \
protons are concerned. However, both theory and obser-
°
10 vations imply that the treatment of the bow shock as if it
were a hydrodynamic discontinuity is a gross oversimpli-
10 fication. Since the solar wind at earth is collisionless on a
scale much larger than the magnetosphere, plasma prop-
erties are responsible for producing the bow shock discon-
tinuity, which is a collisionless shock. The types of plasma
10° phenomena involved will depend on the Mach number of
10-4 the flow, the ratio (B) of the internal energy of the particles
to the energy in the magnetic field, and the direction of the
magnetic field relative to the shock surface. Figure 3-26
[Greenstadt et al., 1980] shows a conceptualization of col-
o.oo5 0.0 0.05 0.1 5 lisionless shock phenomena at the earth's bow shock. The
magneticfieldis visualizedas makingan angleof about45°
with the solar wind, which is flowing from the direction of
Figure 3-25. Compositeof magnetosheathmagneticfield spectra. The
lower frequencydata are magneticfield magnitudespectra
while the highest frequency data are from fluctuations in
the field components [Fairfield, 1976].

QUASI-
turbation vector to align itself with the shock surface for PERPENDICULAR
variations observed near the shock surface. In the inner BOWSHOCK
portion of the magnetosheath, large amplitude waves oc-
curring primarily in the field magnitude are observed. Ro-
tational wave modes have been found to dominate over
magnetoacoustic modes for wave periods greater than 10
minutes. There also appear to be plasma clouds with scales
of several hundred to several thousand kilometers associated
with weak fields that deviate from a direction tangent to the
magnetopause. In addition to broad noise with a 1/f3 spectral
shape there are often sporadic occurences of quasi-mono- QUASI-
chromatic bursts throughout the [Link] waves BOW
PARALLEL
SHOCK
have a frequency of 50-200 Hz, durations of less than one
to tens of seconds and amplitudes of tenths of nanoteslas.
Several sources have been suggested for magnetosheath
field fluctuations. The waves and discontinuities in the solar 3 ke V PROTON
wind are sources of some of the variability, as is the con- FORESHOCK
vection into the magnetosheath of waves produced at the
bow shock or in the region of space just upstream from the
bow shock. Waves incident on the bow shock will be trans- B
mitted across it and amplified and new waves of various
types will be produced in the process. The details concerning
the types of waves produced depend on the properties of
the incident wave. The power in the variations and com-
plexity of observed forms will be markedly increased by
transmission. Interplanetary discontinuities will contribute Figure 3-26. A schematicof the earth's bow shockshowing the quasi
to magnetosheath variability but they are not frequent enough perpendicularand quasiparallelregions. Perpendicularshocks
most closely obey the classical magnetohydrodynamicequa-
in the solar wind to explain a significant portion of mag- tions but parallel shock region behavior is dominated by
netosheath power. Processes taking place at the magneto- plasma effects [Greenstadt et al., 1980;Gary, 1981].

3-29
CHAPTER 3
the sun, that is, the sun is beyond the lower right hand netosheath so when parameters are averaged over periods
quadrant. Four regions of the shock surface are distin- of more than 5 min the shock should arrive at the shape
guished, the two extremes (strictly perpendicular and strictly given by steady state magnetohydrodynamic theory. The
parallel shocks) and the two intermediate regions (quasi- instantaneous shock is not in equilibrium. Figures 3-26 and
perpendicular and quasi-parallel shocks). A shock is called 3-27 show schematically the waves in the vicinity of the
parallel when the upstream magnetic field is perpendicular boundary that propagate back into the solar wind and into
to the plane of the shock and parallel to the upstream flow the magnetosheath. The properties of both the quasi-per-
velocity. Conversely, perpendicular shocks have normals pendicular shock and the quasi-parallel shock depend on the
perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field in the range of B and M, where M is the Mach number of the
solar wind. The major part of the bow shock region has flowing gas. Since the fast wave mode is the MHD wave
been divided into quasi-parallel and quasi-perpendicular re- that steepens into a shock, the Mach number for a perpen-
gions based on empirical results. Quasi-perpendicularshocks dicular shock is given by M = V/(C2A+ C2)1/2 where CA
have a monotonic, sawtooth, or wave-step magnetic profile and Cs are the Alfven and sound wave velocities. In Table
and are sharply defined in space. Quasi-parallel shocks are 3-2 [Greenstadt and Fredericks, 19791the characteristics of
thicker and do not show a clearly definable boundary be- shock phenomena are given for various combinations of B
tween upstream and downstream parameters, either in the and M. A value of B 1 is the dividing line for the regimes
field or particle properties. of B parameter space and M = 3 is the dividing level for
Figure 3-27 [Greenstadt and Fredericks, 1979] is a sche- the Mach number. An estimate of the incidence of the spe-
matic of a cut in the plane containing the interplanetary cific ranges of B and M the solar wind can be found from
field, showing the waves that appear in the parallel and Table 3-1. In the solar wind B varies from 0.5 to 4.6, and
quasi-parallel region in the vicinity of the classical position the ranges of sonic and Alfvenic Mach numbers are from
of the bow shock. The shocked magnetosheath plasma takes 4 or 5 to over 10. However, solar winds with Alfven num-
about 5 min to flow around the forward part of the mag- bers less than I have been observed on occasion.

PARALLEL QUASI-PAR

RETURN
PROTONS

Figure 3-27. Conceptualization of collisionless shock phenomenology as manifested in the earth's curved bow shock. Unshocked interplanetary field
direction Bswis indicated on the foreground field "platform." Field magnitude is plotted vertically. The superimposed three-dimensional
sketches represent solar wind proton thermal properties as number distributions in velocity space [Greenstadt and Fredericks, 1979].

3-30
 SOLAR WIND
Table 3-2. Macroscopic features of the bow shock by parameter class

Parameter Plasma Name of Quasi-perpendicular Quasi-parallel

Values Conditions Structure Features Features

B < Cold plasma, Laminar Clean field jump, sometimes with damped Multigradient field transition with
M < 3 low Mach periodic waves, no turbulence. embedded, nearly-periodic
number wavetrains.
Relatively little proton temperature jump Upstream waves with strong
(Tp2/Tp1)- 2 , maxwellian downstream periodic component, tens of
distribution. seconds period, unknown plasma
distributions.
B < 1, Cool plasma, Quasi- Clean field jump, downstream, nearly- Multigradient field transition at
M > 3 high Mach laminar periodic waves, little turbulence. least 2 RE thick, with large
number Appreciable proton temperature jump, amplitude pulses; extensive
bimodal distribution, nonmaxwellian high foreshock. Little change in solar
energy tail downstream. wind streaming velocity; some
heating with resulting non-
maxwellian proton distributions
differing from either solar wind or
magnetosheath forms.
B 1, Warm plasma, Quasi- Clean field jump, small scale turbulence. No known example.
M< 3 low Mach turbulent Little proton temperature rise, maxwellian
number downstream distribution.
B 1 Warm plasma, Turbulent Irregular field fluctuations obscuring Multigradient, irregular field
M >3 high Mach definite average field jump. transition with large magnitude
number Bimodal or multimodal proton distributions, excursions, upstream waves.
nonmaxwellian downstream. Unknown plasma distributions, but
maxwellian deep in magnetosheath.
B > 1 Hot, high High-beta Irregular field fluctuations of extremely
M > 3 velocity high peak magnitude, possibly lowering B
plasma locally.
Extensive precursor region with appreciable
effect on approaching flow; proton
distributions unknown.
(From Greenstadt and Fredricks,[1979])

3.5.3 Upstream Waves and Particles The upstream energetic particle population has been di-
vided into several types based on their observed velocity
The solar wind-magnetosphere interaction generates and phase distributions. Reflected ions are characterized by
substantialnumbers of energetic particles with a high enough a beamlike distribution of solar wind ions that apparently
speed so that they can propagate back upstream guided by have been reflected and energized at the bow shock. They
the ambient interplanetary field. The upstream particle re- have a streaming velocity 2 or 3 times the solar wind velocity
gion has a strong local time asymmetry with the major effect and a density of about 0.1/cm3 . Their kinetic energy dis-
occurring usually on the dawnside on field lines connected tribution typically maximizes at about 5 keV and has spread
to the quasi-parallel shock. This region of space upstream of 1 30 keV. They are detected on interplanetary field lines
of the bow shock is sometimes called the foreshock and is that connect to the bow shock and are nearly tangent to the
characterized by many different types of particle distribu- shock surface. The sunward boundary of the region in which
tions and wave modes. The energy flux of particles into the these particles are observed is defined by the field-aligned
upstream region is found to be 1017-1018 ergs, which is flow back into the solarwindplusE x B convection, where
comparable to the peak energy released in a geomagnetic E is the solar wind electric field.
substorm. The presence of energetic heavy ions indicates In addition to these beam-like ions there is a popula-
that strong local acceleration is occurring. Observations of tion of diffuse ions that has a nearly isotropic velocity dis-
plasma waves, particles, and fields in the region has led to tribution with a typical temperature of 4 x 107K, an up-
a partial understanding of some of the interrelationships stream flow speed of 0.8-1.2 times the solar wind velocity
among the phenomena [Tsurutani and Rodriguez, 1981]. and a density that varies between 0.02 and 0.8/cm3. The

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CHAPTER 3
energy density of the diffuse ions is -comparable to that be Doppler-shifted right-hand emissions being convected
of the reflected ions. These particles are found downstream back over the spacecraft. They propagate at small (- 25° )
(antisunward) of the reflected ions, almost filling the entire angles to the magnetic field. The rest-frame frequencies have
foreshock region. An excellent correlation exists between been deduced to be 0. 140 times the proton gyrofrequency.
diffuse ions and low frequency (0.01-1 Hz) MHD and They are related to the MHD waves and are detected during
ion-acoustic-like plasma waves. Recent observations indi- diffuse ion events. Whistler mode waves with frequencies
cate that the transition from distributions typical of reflected 10-200 Hz are observed upstream of the bow shock. These
ions to that of diffuse ions is a smooth one and there are emissions have a peak amplitude of 0.1 nT and occur at
ions with intermediate properties in a region of space be- about 1/4 to 1/2 the electron gyrofrequency. It is believed
tween the reflected and diffuse ion region. that the most intense waves are associated with low-energy
Upstream electrons have energies of 0.5 to 100 keV and electron spikes coincident with intense diffuse ion fluxes.
stream in a field aligned direction. The majority of events Other waves that have been observed include small am-
involve 1-2 keV particles with a peak flux of 104 cm 2 s 'sr plitude electrostatic waves in the 100 Hz-10 kHz range
keV 1. They appear on interplanetary field lines newly con- polarized primarily parallel to the ambient magnetic field.
nected to the bow shock and because of their high velocities They have short wave lengths, 30 < X < 215 m, and a low
can be found upstream of the ion foreshock boundary. relative energy density. Broadband impulsive electrostatic
The region upstream from the earth's bow shock is also emissions with amplitudes proportional to f-2 for frequencies
characterizedby complex wave phenomena. There are MHD less than 3 kHz are observed to almost always accompany
waves with an amplitude of 5 nT peak to valley and period electron plasma oscillations. The electron plasma oscilla-
of 10-60 s, which have a left-hand polarization in the space- tions themselves have intensities up to 10 mV with wave-
craft frame. The particles involved in the wave show a + lengths of 400-780 m and frequencies of 20-30 kHz. They
15 km/s solar wind velocity variation as well as correlated are detected throughout the foreshock region and are driven
density fluctuations indicating a magnetosonic component. by 0.2 to 1.5 keV electrons at the boundary of the electron
There is a strong association between these waves and dif- foreshock. Low intensity electromagnetic emissions at twice
fuse ions. Wave packets of whistler mode waves having the electron plasma frequency having a narrow band width
intensities < 1 nT and typically composed of 2 or 3 coherent are detected upstream of the bow shock to distances of at
cycles are observed. Long trains of more than 20 cycles least 240 RE. The emission frequency is correlated with
have been seen on occasion. The emissions, though left solar wind plasma density variations.
hand polarized in the spacecraft frame have been shown to

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 SOLAR WIND
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