The influence of solar active region evolution on solar wind streams, coronal hole boundaries and geomagnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gold, R.E.; Dodson-Prince, H.W.; Hedeman, E.R.; Roelof, E.C.

1982-01-01

We have studied solar and interplanetary data by identification of the heliographic longitudes of the coronal source regions of high speed solar wind streams and by mapping the velocities measured near earth back to the sun using the approximation of constant radial velocity. Interplay of active regions and solar wind were studied

Solar-wind predictions for the Parker Solar Probe orbit. Near-Sun extrapolations derived from an empirical solar-wind model based on Helios and OMNI observations

Science.gov (United States)

Venzmer, M. S.; Bothmer, V.

2018-03-01

Context. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; formerly Solar Probe Plus) mission will be humanitys first in situ exploration of the solar corona with closest perihelia at 9.86 solar radii (R⊙) distance to the Sun. It will help answer hitherto unresolved questions on the heating of the solar corona and the source and acceleration of the solar wind and solar energetic particles. The scope of this study is to model the solar-wind environment for PSPs unprecedented distances in its prime mission phase during the years 2018 to 2025. The study is performed within the Coronagraphic German And US SolarProbePlus Survey (CGAUSS) which is the German contribution to the PSP mission as part of the Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe. Aim. We present an empirical solar-wind model for the inner heliosphere which is derived from OMNI and Helios data. The German-US space probes Helios 1 and Helios 2 flew in the 1970s and observed solar wind in the ecliptic within heliocentric distances of 0.29 au to 0.98 au. The OMNI database consists of multi-spacecraft intercalibrated in situ data obtained near 1 au over more than five solar cycles. The international sunspot number (SSN) and its predictions are used to derive dependencies of the major solar-wind parameters on solar activity and to forecast their properties for the PSP mission. Methods: The frequency distributions for the solar-wind key parameters, magnetic field strength, proton velocity, density, and temperature, are represented by lognormal functions. In addition, we consider the velocity distributions bi-componental shape, consisting of a slower and a faster part. Functional relations to solar activity are compiled with use of the OMNI data by correlating and fitting the frequency distributions with the SSN. Further, based on the combined data set from both Helios probes, the parameters frequency distributions are fitted with respect to solar distance to obtain power law dependencies. Thus an empirical solar-wind model for the inner

An Estimate of Solar Wind Velocity Profiles in a Coronal Hole and a Coronal Streamer Area (6-40 R(radius symbol)

Science.gov (United States)

Patzold, M.; Tsurutani, B. T.; Bird, M. K.

1995-01-01

Total electron content data obtained from the Ulysses Solar Corona Experiment (SCE) in 1991 were used to select two data sets, one associated with a coronal hole and the other with coronal streamer crossings. (This is largely equatorial data shortly after solar maximum.) The solar wind velocity profile is estimated for these areas.

Intensity of the Fe XV emission line corona, the level of geomagnetic activity and the velocity of the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, B.; Noci, G.

1976-01-01

The average solar wind velocity and the level of geomagnetic activity (Kp) following central meridian passage of coronal weak and bright features identified from Oso 7 isophotograms of Fe XV (284 A) are determined by the method of superposed epochs. Results are consistent with the concept that bright regions possess magnetic field of closed configurations, thereby reducing particle escape, while coronal holes possess open magnetic field lines favorable to particle escape or enhanced outflow of the solar wind. Coronal holes are identified with Bartels' M regions not only statistically but by linking specific long-lived holes with individual sequences of geomagnetic storms. In the study of bright region a subdivision by brightness temperature (T/sub b/) of associated 9.1-cm radiation was found to be significant, with the region s of higher T/sub b/ having a stronger inhibiting power on the outflow of the solar wind when they were located in the solar hemisphere on the same side of the solar equator as the earth. Regions of highest T/sub b/ most strongly depress the outflow of solar wind but are also the most likely to produce flare-associated great storms

Evolution of the solar wind acceleration region during 1990-1994

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tokumaru, Munetoshi; Kondo, Tetsuro; Takaba, Hiroshi; Mori, Hirotaka; Tanaka, Takashi

1996-01-01

The single-station measurements of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) at 2GHz and 8GHz using the Kashima radio telescope are used to study the distribution of the solar wind velocity and density fluctuations near the sun. Wind velocities derived from our IPS data with the IPS co-spectrum method show a radial increase in the distance range between 10 and 30 Rs (solar radii). From the scintillation index analysis, it is found that the radial fall of density fluctuations in the solar wind is described by the power-law function. A series of Kashima IPS observations reveals that a pronounced change in velocity and turbulence level occurs at the polar region of the sun during 1990-1994. That is, the high-speed wind and the reduced-turbulence region develop there as the solar activity declines. This fact is consistent with the long-term evolution of the coronal magnetic structure inferred from He1083nm observations

Interaction of intersteller pick-up ions with the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mobius, E.; Klecker, B.; Hovestadt, D.; Scholer, M.

1988-01-01

The interaction of interstellar pick-up ions with the solar wind is studied by comparing a model for the velocity distribution function of pick-up ions with actual measurements of He + ions in the solar wind. The model includes the effects of pitch-angle diffusion due to interplanetary Alfven waves, adiabatic deceleration in the expanding solar wind and the radial variation of the source function. It is demonstrated that the scattering mean free path is in the range ≤0.1 AU and that energy diffusion can be neglected as compared with adiabatic deceleration. The effects of adiabatic focusing, of the radial variation of the neutral density and of an variation of the solar wind velocity with distance from the Sun are investigated. With the correct choice of these parameters the authors can model the measured energy spectra of the pick-up ions does not vary with the solar wind velocity and the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field for a given local neutral gas density and ionization rate. Therefore, the comparison of the model distributions with the measurements leads to a quantitative determination of the local interstellar gas density

Solar wind velocity and daily variation of cosmic rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahluwalia, H.S.; Riker, J.F.

1985-01-01

Recently parameters applicable to the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have become much better defined. Superior quality of data bases that are now available, particularly for the post-1971 period, make it possible to believe the long-term trends in the data. These data are correlated with the secular changes observed in the diurnal variation parameters obtained from neutron monitor data at Deep River and underground muon telescope data at Embudo (30 MEW) and Socorro (82 MWE). The annual mean amplitudes appear to have large values during the epochs of high speed solar wind streams. Results are discussed

Distribution and solar wind control of compressional solar wind-magnetic anomaly interactions observed at the Moon by ARTEMIS

Science.gov (United States)

Halekas, J. S.; Poppe, A. R.; Lue, C.; Farrell, W. M.; McFadden, J. P.

2017-06-01

A statistical investigation of 5 years of observations from the two-probe Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) mission reveals that strong compressional interactions occur infrequently at high altitudes near the ecliptic but can form in a wide range of solar wind conditions and can occur up to two lunar radii downstream from the lunar limb. The compressional events, some of which may represent small-scale collisionless shocks ("limb shocks"), occur in both steady and variable interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, with those forming in steady IMF well organized by the location of lunar remanent crustal magnetization. The events observed by ARTEMIS have similarities to ion foreshock phenomena, and those observed in variable IMF conditions may result from either local lunar interactions or distant terrestrial foreshock interactions. Observed velocity deflections associated with compressional events are always outward from the lunar wake, regardless of location and solar wind conditions. However, events for which the observed velocity deflection is parallel to the upstream motional electric field form in distinctly different solar wind conditions and locations than events with antiparallel deflections. Consideration of the momentum transfer between incoming and reflected solar wind populations helps explain the observed characteristics of the different groups of events.Plain Language SummaryWe survey the environment around the Moon to determine when and where strong amplifications in the charged particle density and magnetic field strength occur. These structures may be some of the smallest shock waves in the solar system, and learning about their formation informs us about the interaction of charged particles with small-scale magnetic fields throughout the solar system and beyond. We find that these compressions occur in an extended region downstream from the lunar dawn and dusk regions and

Solar wind acceleration in coronal holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopp, R.A.

1978-01-01

Past attempts to explain the large solar wind velocities in high speed streams by theoretical models of the expansion have invoked either extended nonthermal heating of the corona, heat flux inhibition, or direct addition of momentum to the expanding coronal plasma. Several workers have shown that inhibiting the heat flux at low coronal densities is probably not adequate to explain quantitatively the observed plasma velocities in high speed streams. It stressed that, in order to account for both these large plasma velocities and the low densities found in coronal holes (from which most high speed streams are believed to emanate), extended heating by itself will not suffice. One needs a nonthermal mechanism to provide the bulk acceleration of the high wind plasma close to the sun, and the most likely candidate at present is direct addition of the momentum carried by outward-propagating waves to the expanding corona. Some form of momentum addition appears to be absolutely necessary if one hopes to build quantitatively self-consistent models of coronal holes and high speed solar wind streams

Momentum flux of the solar wind near planetary magnetospheres: a comparative study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez de Tejada, H.

1985-01-01

A study of the velocity profiles of the shocked solar wind exterior to the magnetospheres of the Earth, Mars and Venus is presented. A characteristic difference exists between the conditions present in planets with and without a strong intrinsic magnetic field. In a strongly magnetized planet (as it is the case in the earth), the velocity of the solar wind near the magnetopause remains nearly constant along directions normal to that boundary. In weakly magnetized planets (Venus, Mars), on the other hand, the velocity profile near the magnetopause/ionopause exhibits a transverse gradient which implies decreased values of the momentum flux of the solar wind in those regions. The implications of the different behavior of the shocked solar wind are discussed in connection with the nature of the interaction process that takes place in each case. (author)

Evolution of Proton and Alpha Particle Velocities through the Solar Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Ďurovcová, T.; Šafránková, J.; Němeček, Z.; Richardson, J. D.

2017-12-01

Relative properties of solar wind protons and α particles are often used as indicators of a source region on the solar surface, and analysis of their evolution along the solar wind path tests our understanding of physics of multicomponent magnetized plasma. The paper deals with the comprehensive analysis of the difference between proton and α particle bulk velocities at 1 au with a special emphasis on interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). A comparison of about 20 years of Wind observations at 1 au with Helios measurements closer to the Sun (0.3-0.7 au) generally confirms the present knowledge that (1) the differential speed between both species increases with the proton speed; (2) the differential speed is lower than the local Alfvén speed; (3) α particles are faster than protons near the Sun, and this difference decreases with the increasing distance. However, we found a much larger portion of observations with protons faster than α particles in Wind than in Helios data and attributed this effect to a preferential acceleration of the protons in the solar wind. A distinct population characterized by a very small differential velocity and nearly equal proton and α particle temperatures that is frequently observed around the maximum of solar activity was attributed to ICMEs. Since this population does not exhibit any evolution with increasing collisional age, we suggest that, by contrast to the solar wind from other sources, ICMEs are born in an equilibrium state and gradually lose this equilibrium due to interactions with the ambient solar wind.

Signature of open magnetic field lines in the extended solar corona and of solar wind acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Antonucci, E.; Giordano, S.; Benna, C.; Kohl, J. L.; Noci, G.; Michels, J.; Fineschi, S.

1997-01-01

The observations carried out with the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are discussed. The purpose of the observations was to determine the line of sight and radial velocity fields in coronal regions with different magnetic topology. The results showed that the regions where the high speed solar wind flows along open field lines are characterized by O VI 1032 and HI Lyman alpha 1216 lines. The global coronal maps of the line of sight velocity were reconstructed. The corona height, where the solar wind reaches 100 km/s, was determined.

Solar Illumination Control of the Polar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Maes, L.; Maggiolo, R.; De Keyser, J.; André, M.; Eriksson, A. I.; Haaland, S.; Li, K.; Poedts, S.

2017-11-01

Polar wind outflow is an important process through which the ionosphere supplies plasma to the magnetosphere. The main source of energy driving the polar wind is solar illumination of the ionosphere. As a result, many studies have found a relation between polar wind flux densities and solar EUV intensity, but less is known about their relation to the solar zenith angle at the ionospheric origin, certainly at higher altitudes. The low energy of the outflowing particles and spacecraft charging means it is very difficult to measure the polar wind at high altitudes. We take advantage of an alternative method that allows estimations of the polar wind flux densities far in the lobes. We analyze measurements made by the Cluster spacecraft at altitudes from 4 up to 20 RE. We observe a strong dependence on the solar zenith angle in the ion flux density and see that both the ion velocity and density exhibit a solar zenith angle dependence as well. We also find a seasonal variation of the flux density.

Solar wind controlled pulsations: A review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Odera, T.J.

1986-01-01

Studies of the solar wind controlled Pc 3, 4 pulsations by early and recent researchers are highlighted. The review focuses on the recent observations, which cover the time during the International Magnetospheric Study (IMS). Results from early and recent observations agree on one point, that is, that the Pc 3, 4 pulsations are influenced by three main solar wind parameters, namely, the solar wind velocity V/sub 5w/, the IMF orientation theta/sub x/B, and magnitude B. The results can be interpreted, preferably, in terms of an external origin for Pc 3, 4 pulsations. This implies, essentially, the signal model, which means that the pulsations originate in the upstream waves (in the interplanetary medium) and are transported by convection to the magnetopause, where they couple to oscillations of the magnetospheric field lines

Analysis of ISEE-3/ICE solar wind data

Science.gov (United States)

Coplan, Michael A.

1989-01-01

Under the grant that ended November 11, 1988 work was accomplished in a number of areas, as follows: (1) Analysis of solar wind data; (2) Analysis of Giacobini/Zinner encounter data; (3) Investigation of solar wind and magnetospheric electron velocity distributions; and (4) Experimental investigation of the electronic structure of clusters. Reprints and preprints of publications resulting from this work are included in the appendices.

Effect of Alfvenic fluctuations on the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chien, T.H.

1974-01-01

The major source of microscale fluctuations in the interplanetary medium due to the outwardly propagating Alfven waves is considered. The effect of the Alfven waves on the supersonic expansion of the solar wind is studied under the assumption that the motion of the interplanetary medium can be resolved physically into a comparatively smooth and slowly varying mesoscale flow and field with very irregular disordered incompressible microscale Alfvenic fluctuations superposed on it. The important features of the solar wind such as heat conduction flux, spiral interplanetary magnetic field, and proton thermal anisotropy are included in the theory. For inviscid, steady state, spherically symmetrical model of the solar wind, the two-fluid formulation of the background mesoscale MHD equations is obtained. The results show that during the expansion process, fluctuation energy is converted into the kinetic energy of the solar wind. Due to the presence of the Alfvenic fluctuations, the velocity of the solar wind is about 5 percent higher than that without considering the fluctuations. (U.S.)

Coronal mass ejections and disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters in relation with geomagnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verma, P L; Singh, Puspraj; Singh, Preetam

2014-01-01

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are the drastic solar events in which huge amount of solar plasma materials are ejected into the heliosphere from the sun and are mainly responsible to generate large disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters and geomagnetic storms in geomagnetic field. We have studied geomagnetic storms, (Dst ≤-75 nT) observed during the period of 1997-2007 with Coronal Mass Ejections and disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters (solar wind temperature, velocity, density and interplanetary magnetic field) .We have inferred that most of the geomagnetic storms are associated with halo and partial halo Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).The association rate of halo and partial halo coronal mass ejections are found 72.37 % and 27.63 % respectively. Further we have concluded that geomagnetic storms are closely associated with the disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters. We have determined positive co-relation between magnitudes of geomagnetic storms and magnitude of jump in solar wind plasma temperature, jump in solar wind plasma density, jump in solar wind plasma velocity and jump in average interplanetary magnetic field with co-relation co-efficient 0 .35 between magnitude of geomagnetic storms and magnitude of jump in solar wind plasma temperature, 0.19 between magnitude of geomagnetic storms and magnitude of jump in solar wind density, 0.34 between magnitude of geomagnetic storms and magnitude of jump in solar wind plasma velocity, 0.66 between magnitude of geomagnetic storms and magnitude of jump in average interplanetary magnetic field respectively. We have concluded that geomagnetic storms are mainly caused by Coronal Mass Ejections and disturbances in solar wind plasma parameters that they generate.

Kinetic Properties of the Neutral Solar Wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florinski, V.; Heerikhuisen, J.

2017-01-01

Charge-exchange collisions between the solar wind protons and interstellar hydrogen produce a distinctive population of neutral hydrogen streaming radially at nearly the solar-wind speed. This tenuous population, known as the neutral solar wind (NSW) is thought to play a key role in the appearance of the Interplanetary Boundary EXplorer ribbon, a bright circular band in the sky that is the source of neutral hydrogen with energies near 1 keV. According to the leading model of the ribbon, the velocity distribution of NSW hydrogen is imparted on the pickup ions (PUIs) generated via charge exchange with the interstellar protons beyond the heliopause, and in this way controls the stability of the resulting ring distribution of PUIs against hydromagnetic wave generation. In this paper, we examine the velocity distributions of the NSW atoms in the heliosphere and the outer heliosheath regions by following the phase-space trajectories of the Boltzmann equation. It is demonstrated that these distributions are highly anisotropic, with the parallel (radial) temperature greatly exceeding the perpendicular temperature. Ions picked up near 90° from the anisotropic NSW would form a stable ring distribution capable of generating the ribbon flux. We also discuss a second population of neutrals born in charge transfer collisions with interstellar PUIs, the so-called neutralized pickup ion (NPI) component. Their high thermal velocities translate into large parallel velocity spread of the daughter ribbon PUIs, which would adversely affect plasma stability in local interstellar space.

Kinetic Properties of the Neutral Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Florinski, V.; Heerikhuisen, J.

2017-03-01

Charge-exchange collisions between the solar wind protons and interstellar hydrogen produce a distinctive population of neutral hydrogen streaming radially at nearly the solar-wind speed. This tenuous population, known as the neutral solar wind (NSW) is thought to play a key role in the appearance of the Interplanetary Boundary EXplorer ribbon, a bright circular band in the sky that is the source of neutral hydrogen with energies near 1 keV. According to the leading model of the ribbon, the velocity distribution of NSW hydrogen is imparted on the pickup ions (PUIs) generated via charge exchange with the interstellar protons beyond the heliopause, and in this way controls the stability of the resulting ring distribution of PUIs against hydromagnetic wave generation. In this paper, we examine the velocity distributions of the NSW atoms in the heliosphere and the outer heliosheath regions by following the phase-space trajectories of the Boltzmann equation. It is demonstrated that these distributions are highly anisotropic, with the parallel (radial) temperature greatly exceeding the perpendicular temperature. Ions picked up near 90° from the anisotropic NSW would form a stable ring distribution capable of generating the ribbon flux. We also discuss a second population of neutrals born in charge transfer collisions with interstellar PUIs, the so-called neutralized pickup ion (NPI) component. Their high thermal velocities translate into large parallel velocity spread of the daughter ribbon PUIs, which would adversely affect plasma stability in local interstellar space.

RECONSTRUCTING THE SOLAR WIND FROM ITS EARLY HISTORY TO CURRENT EPOCH

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Airapetian, Vladimir S.; Usmanov, Arcadi V., E-mail: vladimir.airapetian@nasa.gov, E-mail: avusmanov@gmail.com [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

2016-02-01

Stellar winds from active solar-type stars can play a crucial role in removal of stellar angular momentum and erosion of planetary atmospheres. However, major wind properties except for mass-loss rates cannot be directly derived from observations. We employed a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic Alfvén wave driven solar wind model, ALF3D, to reconstruct the solar wind parameters including the mass-loss rate, terminal velocity, and wind temperature at 0.7, 2, and 4.65 Gyr. Our model treats the wind thermal electrons, protons, and pickup protons as separate fluids and incorporates turbulence transport, eddy viscosity, turbulent resistivity, and turbulent heating to properly describe proton and electron temperatures of the solar wind. To study the evolution of the solar wind, we specified three input model parameters, the plasma density, Alfvén wave amplitude, and the strength of the dipole magnetic field at the wind base for each of three solar wind evolution models that are consistent with observational constrains. Our model results show that the velocity of the paleo solar wind was twice as fast, ∼50 times denser and 2 times hotter at 1 AU in the Sun's early history at 0.7 Gyr. The theoretical calculations of mass-loss rate appear to be in agreement with the empirically derived values for stars of various ages. These results can provide realistic constraints for wind dynamic pressures on magnetospheres of (exo)planets around the young Sun and other active stars, which is crucial in realistic assessment of the Joule heating of their ionospheres and corresponding effects of atmospheric erosion.

RECONSTRUCTING THE SOLAR WIND FROM ITS EARLY HISTORY TO CURRENT EPOCH

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Airapetian, Vladimir S.; Usmanov, Arcadi V.

2016-01-01

Stellar winds from active solar-type stars can play a crucial role in removal of stellar angular momentum and erosion of planetary atmospheres. However, major wind properties except for mass-loss rates cannot be directly derived from observations. We employed a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic Alfvén wave driven solar wind model, ALF3D, to reconstruct the solar wind parameters including the mass-loss rate, terminal velocity, and wind temperature at 0.7, 2, and 4.65 Gyr. Our model treats the wind thermal electrons, protons, and pickup protons as separate fluids and incorporates turbulence transport, eddy viscosity, turbulent resistivity, and turbulent heating to properly describe proton and electron temperatures of the solar wind. To study the evolution of the solar wind, we specified three input model parameters, the plasma density, Alfvén wave amplitude, and the strength of the dipole magnetic field at the wind base for each of three solar wind evolution models that are consistent with observational constrains. Our model results show that the velocity of the paleo solar wind was twice as fast, ∼50 times denser and 2 times hotter at 1 AU in the Sun's early history at 0.7 Gyr. The theoretical calculations of mass-loss rate appear to be in agreement with the empirically derived values for stars of various ages. These results can provide realistic constraints for wind dynamic pressures on magnetospheres of (exo)planets around the young Sun and other active stars, which is crucial in realistic assessment of the Joule heating of their ionospheres and corresponding effects of atmospheric erosion

Observations of micro-turbulence in the solar wind near the sun with interplanetary scintillation

Science.gov (United States)

Yamauchi, Y.; Misawa, H.; Kojima, M.; Mori, H.; Tanaka, T.; Takaba, H.; Kondo, T.; Tokumaru, M.; Manoharan, P. K.

1995-01-01

Velocity and density turbulence of solar wind were inferred from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations at 2.3 GHz and 8.5 GHz using a single-antenna. The observations were made during September and October in 1992 - 1994. They covered the distance range between 5 and 76 solar radii (Rs). We applied the spectrum fitting method to obtain a velocity, an axial ratio, an inner scale and a power-law spectrum index. We examined the difference of the turbulence properties near the Sun between low-speed solar wind and high-speed solar wind. Both of solar winds showed acceleration at the distance range of 10 - 30 Rs. The radial dependence of anisotropy and spectrum index did not have significant difference between low-speed and high-speed solar winds. Near the sun, the radial dependence of the inner scale showed the separation from the linear relation as reported by previous works. We found that the inner scale of high-speed solar wind is larger than that of low-speed wind.

Laboratory Facility for Simulating Solar Wind Sails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Funaki, Ikkoh; Ueno, Kazuma; Oshio, Yuya; Ayabe, Tomohiro; Horisawa, Hideyuki; Yamakawa, Hiroshi

2008-01-01

Magnetic sail (MagSail) is a deep space propulsion system, in which an artificial magnetic cavity captures the energy of the solar wind to propel a spacecraft in the direction leaving the sun. For a scale-model experiment of the plasma flow of MagSail, we employed a magnetoplasmadynamic arcjet as a solar wind simulator. It is observed that a plasma flow from the solar wind simulator reaches a quasi-steady state of about 0.8 ms duration after a transient phase when initiating the discharge. During this initial phase of the discharge, a blast-wave was observed to develop radially in a vacuum chamber. When a solenoidal coil (MagSail scale model) is immersed into the quasi-steady flow where the velocity is 45 km/s, and the number density is 10 19 m-3, a bow shock as well as a magnetic cavity were formed in front of the coil. As a result of the interaction between the plasma flow and the magnetic cavity, the momentum of the simulated solar wind is decreased, and it is found from the thrust measurement that the solar wind momentum is transferred to the coil simulating MagSail.

QUANTIFYING THE ANISOTROPY AND SOLAR CYCLE DEPENDENCE OF '1/f' SOLAR WIND FLUCTUATIONS OBSERVED BY ADVANCED COMPOSITION EXPLORER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nicol, R. M.; Chapman, S. C.; Dendy, R. O.

2009-01-01

The power spectrum of the evolving solar wind shows evidence of a spectral break between an inertial range (IR) of turbulent fluctuations at higher frequencies and a '1/f' like region at lower frequencies. In the ecliptic plane at ∼1 AU, this break occurs approximately at timescales of a few hours and is observed in the power spectra of components of velocity and magnetic field. The '1/f' energy range is of more direct coronal origin than the IR, and carries signatures of the complex magnetic field structure of the solar corona, and of footpoint stirring in the solar photosphere. To quantify the scaling properties we use generic statistical methods such as generalized structure functions and probability density functions (PDFs), focusing on solar cycle dependence and on anisotropy with respect to the background magnetic field. We present structure function analysis of magnetic and velocity field fluctuations, using a novel technique to decompose the fluctuations into directions parallel and perpendicular to the mean local background magnetic field. Whilst the magnetic field is close to '1/f', we show that the velocity field is '1/f α ' with α ≠ 1. For the velocity, the value of α varies between parallel and perpendicular fluctuations and with the solar cycle. There is also variation in α with solar wind speed. We have examined the PDFs in the fast, quiet solar wind and intriguingly, whilst parallel and perpendicular are distinct, both the B field and velocity show the same PDF of their perpendicular fluctuations, which is close to gamma or inverse Gumbel. These results point to distinct physical processes in the corona and to their mapping out into the solar wind. The scaling exponents obtained constrain the models for these processes.

Observations of the solar wind speed near the sun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grall, R. R.; Coles, Wm. A.; Klinglesmith, M. T.

1996-01-01

Two-antenna scintillation (IPS) observations can provide accurate measurements of the velocity with which electron density fluctuations drift past the line of sight. These fluctuations can be used as tracers for the solar plasma and allow us to estimate the solar wind velocity near the Sun where spacecraft have not yet penetrated. We present recent IPS measurements made with the EISCAT and VLBA arrays. We have found that by using baselines which are several times the scale size of the diffraction pattern we are able to partially deconvolve the line of sight integration which affects remote sensing data. The long baselines allow the fast and slow components of the solar wind to be separated and their velocities estimated individually. In modeling IPS it is important that the scattering be 'weak' because the model then requires only 1 spatial parameter instead of 3. EISCAT can only operate near 933MHz which limits the observation to outside of 18R · , however the VLBA has higher frequency receivers which allow it to observe inside of 15R · . The density variance δN e 2 in the fast wind is a factor of 10-15 less than in the slow (Coles et al., 1995) making it necessary to consider the entire line of sight, particularly when the fast wind occupies the center portion. Using the point of closest approach and the average velocity to characterize the observation can lead to an incorrect interpretation of the data. We have compared our IPS observations with maps made from the Yohkoh soft X ray, HAO's white-light electron density, and Stanford magnetic field measurements as well as with the IMP8 and Ulysses spacecraft data to assist in placing the fast and slow wind. Here we have selected those observation from 1994 which were dominated by the southern coronal hole and have estimated a velocity acceleration profile for the fast solar wind between 7 and 100R · which is presented in Figure 1. The observations suggest that the fast solar wind is fully developed by ≅7R �

Beam tracking strategies for studies of kinetic scales in the solar wind with THOR-CSW

Science.gov (United States)

De Keyser, Johan; Lavraud, Benoit; Neefs, Eddy; Berkenbosch, Sophie; Anciaux, Michel; Maggiolo, Romain

2016-04-01

Modern plasma spectrometers for monitoring the solar wind attempt to intelligently track the energy and direction of the solar wind beam in order to obtain solar wind velocity distributions more efficiently. Such beam tracking strategies offer some benefits, but also have their limitations and drawbacks. Benefits include an improved resolution and/or a faster velocity distribution function acquisition time. Limitations are due to instrument characteristics that tend to be optimized for a particular range of particle energies and arrival directions. A drawback is the risk to miss an important part of the velocity distribution or to lose track of the beam altogether. A comparison is presented of different beam tracking strategies under consideration for the THOR-CSW instrument in order to highlight a number of design decisions and their impact on the acquired velocity distributions. The gain offered by beam tracking in terms of increased time resolution turns out to be essential for studies of solar wind physics at kinetic scales.

On the acceleration of alpha particles in the fast solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomberoff, L.; Hernandez, R.

1992-01-01

Recently, Gomberoff and Elgueta (1991) showed that in a plasma composed of anisotropic protons and alpha particles drifting along an external magnetic field with a small velocity relative to the protons, strong left-hand polarized electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves can be generated. These waves can accelerate the alpha particles to velocities well in excess of the proton bulk velocity. Here the authors assume a more realistic model of the solar wind by considering a double-humped proton distribution. It is shown that the secondary proton beam has no important effects on the ion cyclotron waves for beam densities of the order of those observed in fast solar wind conditions. The fact that the alpha proton drift velocity is modulated by the Alfven velocity remains unexplained

Solar Wind Halo Formation by the Scattering of the Strahl via Direct Cluster/PEACE Observations of the 3D Velocity Distribution Function

Science.gov (United States)

Figueroa-Vinas, Adolfo; Gurgiolo, Chris A.; Nieves-Chinchilla, Teresa; Goldstein, Melvyn L.

2010-01-01

It has been suggested by a number of authors that the solar wind electron halo can be formed by the scattering of the strahl. On frequent occasions we have observed in electron angular skymaps (Phi/Theta-plots) of the electron 3D velocity distribution functions) a bursty-filament of particles connecting the strahl to the solar wind core-halo. These are seen over a very limited energy range. When the magnetic field is well off the nominal solar wind flow direction such filaments are inconsistent with any local forces and are probably the result of strong scattering. Furthermore, observations indicates that the strahl component is frequently and significantly anisotropic (Tper/Tpal approx.2). This provides a possible free energy source for the excitation of whistler waves as a possible scattering mechanism. The empirical observational evidence between the halo and the strahl suggests that the strahl population may be, at least in part, the source of the halo component.

Deceleration of the solar wind in the earth's foreshock region - Isee 2 and Imp 8 observations

Science.gov (United States)

Bonifazi, C.; Moreno, G.; Lazarus, A. J.; Sullivan, J. D.

1980-01-01

The deceleration of the solar wind in the region of the interplanetary space filled by ions backstreaming from the earth's bow shock and associated waves is studied using a two-spacecraft technique. This deceleration depends on the solar wind bulk velocity; at low velocities (below 300 km/s) the velocity decrease is about 5 km/s, while at higher velocities (above 400 km/s) the decrease may be as large as 30 km/s. The energy balance shows that the kinetic energy loss far exceeds the thermal energy which is possibly gained by the solar wind; therefore at least part of this energy must go into waves and/or into the backstreaming ions.

Pioneer and Voyager observations of the solar wind at large heliocentric distances and latitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Gazis, P. R.; Mihalov, J. D.; Barnes, A.; Lazarus, A. J.; Smith, E. J.

1989-01-01

Data obtained from the electrostatic analyzers aboard the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft and from the Faraday cup aboard Voyager 2 were used to study spatial gradients in the distant solar wind. Prior to mid-1985, both spacecraft observed nearly identical solar wind structures. After day 150 of 1985, the velocity structure at Voyager 2 became flatter, and the Voyager 2 velocities were smaller than those observed by Pioneer 11. It is suggested that these changes in the solar wind at low latitudes may be related to a change which occurred in the coronal hole structure in early 1985.

The influence of solar active region evolution on solar wind streams, coronal hole boundaries and geomagnetic storms

Science.gov (United States)

Gold, R. E.; Dodson-Prince, H. W.; Hedeman, E. R.; Roelof, E. C.

1982-01-01

Solar and interplanetary data are examined, taking into account the identification of the heliographic longitudes of the coronal source regions of high speed solar wind (SW) streams by Nolte and Roelof (1973). Nolte and Roelof have 'mapped' the velocities measured near earth back to the sun using the approximation of constant radial velocity. The 'Carrington carpet' for rotations 1597-1616 is shown in a graph. Coronal sources of high speed streams appear in the form of solid black areas. The contours of the stream sources are laid on 'evolutionary charts' of solar active region histories for the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Questions regarding the interplay of active regions and solar wind are investigated, giving attention to developments during the years 1973, 1974, and 1975.

Perturbation of the solar wind in a model terrestrial foreshock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skadron, G.; Holdaway, R.D.; Scholer, M.

1986-01-01

We analyze the perturbation of the solar wind in the earth's foreshock. The foreshock is modulated as a planar magnetic flux tube having a 15 R/sub E/ half width. Within the flux tube the upstream energetic particle pressure is assumed to fall monotonically to zero at the flux tube boundary and decline in the upstream direction with a scale length of 8 R/sub E/. The incident solar wind is assumed to flow uniformly with a velocity of 400 km s -1 , a density of 8 cm -3 , a pressure of 50 eV cm -3 , and a magnetic field of 4γ directed parallel to the flow. The solar wind density, velocity, and magnetic field within the foreshock are described by the steady state ideal MHD equations. We find that (1) the vector solar wind velocity perturbation rotates from the sunward to the transverse direction with increasing distance from the axis of the flux tube, (2) the peak solar wind deflection is located --3R/sub E/ within the flux tube boundary, (3) a central upstream pressure of 200 eV cm -3 produces a maxium deceleration of 6 km s -1 and a maximum deflection of 1.3 0 , (4) a central upstream pressure of 600 eV cm -3 produces a maximum deceleration of 19 km s -1 and a maximum deflection of 3.6 0 , and (5) the deflection and deceleration are accompanied by perturbations of the solar wind density and magnetic field. These perturbations are largest near the flux tube boundary where both form spikes having a width of --2R/sub E/. For a 600 eV cm -3 central pressure those spikes have amplitudes of 2 cm -3 and lγ, respectively. We have analyzed the linearized flow problem analytically and reduced the solutions to quadrature. These solutions are found to be good approximations to the numerical nonlinear solutions for moderate values of the upstream particle pressure

Dynamics of Intense Currents in the Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Artemyev, Anton V.; Angelopoulos, Vassilis; Halekas, Jasper S.; Vinogradov, Alexander A.; Vasko, Ivan Y.; Zelenyi, Lev M.

2018-06-01

Transient currents in the solar wind are carried by various magnetic field discontinuities that contribute significantly to the magnetic field fluctuation spectrum. Internal instabilities and dynamics of these discontinuities are believed to be responsible for magnetic field energy dissipation and corresponding charged particle acceleration and heating. Accurate modeling of these phenomena requires detailed investigation of transient current formation and evolution. By examining such evolution using a unique data set compiled from observations of the same solar wind flow by two spacecraft at Earth’s and Mars’s orbits, we show that it consists of several processes: discontinuity thinning (decrease in thickness normalized by the ion inertial length), intensification of currents normalized to the proton thermal current (i.e., the product of proton charge, density, and thermal velocity), and increase in the compressional component of magnetic field variations across discontinuities. The significant proton temperature variation around most observed discontinuities indicates possible proton heating. Plasma velocity jumps across the discontinuities are well correlated with Alfvén velocity changes. We discuss possible explanations of the observed discontinuity evolution. We also compare the observed evolution with predictions of models describing discontinuity formation due to Alfvén wave steepening. Our results show that discontinuity modeling likely requires taking into account both the effects of nonlinear Alfvén wave dynamics and solar wind expansion.

A Generalized Equatorial Model for the Accelerating Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Tasnim, S.; Cairns, Iver H.; Wheatland, M. S.

2018-02-01

A new theoretical model for the solar wind is developed that includes the wind's acceleration, conservation of angular momentum, deviations from corotation, and nonradial velocity and magnetic field components from an inner boundary (corresponding to the onset of the solar wind) to beyond 1 AU. The model uses a solution of the time-steady isothermal equation of motion to describe the acceleration and analytically predicts the Alfvénic critical radius. We fit the model to near-Earth observations of the Wind spacecraft during the solar rotation period of 1-27 August 2010. The resulting data-driven model demonstrates the existence of noncorotating, nonradial flows and fields from the inner boundary (r = rs) outward and predicts the magnetic field B = (Br,Bϕ), velocity v = (vr,vϕ), and density n(r,ϕ,t), which vary with heliocentric distance r, heliolatitude ϕ, and time t in a Sun-centered standard inertial plane. The description applies formally only in the equatorial plane. In a frame corotating with the Sun, the transformed velocity v' and a field B' are not parallel, resulting in an electric field with a component Ez' along the z axis. The resulting E'×B'=E'×B drift lies in the equatorial plane, while the ∇B and curvature drifts are out of the plane. Together these may lead to enhanced scattering/heating of sufficiently energetic particles. The model predicts that deviations δvϕ from corotation at the inner boundary are common, with δvϕ(rs,ϕs,ts) comparable to the transverse velocities due to granulation and supergranulation motions. Abrupt changes in δvϕ(rs,ϕs,ts) are interpreted in terms of converging and diverging flows at the cell boundaries and centers, respectively. Large-scale variations in the predicted angular momentum demonstrate that the solar wind can drive vorticity and turbulence from near the Sun to 1 AU and beyond.

Kinetic Properties of Solar Wind Silicon and Iron Ions

Science.gov (United States)

Janitzek, N. P.; Berger, L.; Drews, C.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.

2017-12-01

Heavy ions with atomic numbers Z>2 account for less than one percent of the solar wind ions. However, serving as test particles with differing mass and charge, they provide a unique experimental approach to major questions of solar and fundamental plasma physics such as coronal heating, the origin and acceleration of the solar wind and wave-particle interaction in magnetized plasma. Yet the low relative abundances of the heavy ions pose substantial challenges to the instrumentation measuring these species with reliable statistics and sufficient time resolution. As a consequence the numbers of independent measurements and studies are small. The Charge Time-Of-Flight (CTOF) mass spectrometer as part of the Charge, ELement and Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS) onboard the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a linear time-of-flight mass spectrometer which was operated at Lagrangian point L1 in 1996 for a few months only, before it suffered an instrument failure. Despite its short operation time, the CTOF sensor measured solar wind heavy ions with excellent charge state separation, an unprecedented cadence of 5 minutes and very high counting statistics, exceeding similar state-of-the-art instruments by a factor of ten. In contrast to earlier CTOF studies which were based on reduced onboard post-processed data, in our current studies we use raw Pulse Height Analysis (PHA) data providing a significantly increased mass, mass-per-charge and velocity resolution. Focussing on silicon and iron ion measurements, we present an overview of our findings on (1) short time behavior of heavy ion 1D radial velocity distribution functions, (2) differential streaming between heavy ions and solar wind bulk protons, (3) kinetic temperatures of heavy ions. Finally, we compare the CTOF results with measurements of the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) instrument onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE).

Physics-based Tests to Identify the Accuracy of Solar Wind Ion Measurements: A Case Study with the Wind Faraday Cups

Science.gov (United States)

Kasper, J. C.; Lazarus, A. J.; Steinberg, J. T.; Ogilvie, K. W.; Szabo, A.

2006-01-01

We present techniques for comparing measurements of velocity, temperature, and density with constraints imposed by the plasma physics of magnetized bi-Maxwellian ions. Deviations from these physics-based constraints are interpreted as arising from measurement errors. Two million ion spectra from the Solar Wind Experiment Faraday Cup instruments on the Wind spacecraft are used as a case study. The accuracy of velocity measurements is determined by the fact that differential flow between hydrogen and helium should be aligned with the ambient magnetic field. Modeling the breakdown of field alignment suggests velocity uncertainties are less than 0.16% in magnitude and 3deg in direction. Temperature uncertainty is found by examining the distribution of observed temperature anisotropies in high-beta solar wind intervals where the firehose, mirror, and cyclotron microinstabilities should drive the distribution to isotropy. The presence of a finite anisotropy at high beta suggests overall temperature uncertainties of 8%. Hydrogen and helium number densities are compared with the electron density inferred from observations of the local electron plasma frequency as a function of solar wind speed and year. We find that after accounting for the contribution of minor ions, the results are consistent with a systematic offset between the two instruments of 34%. The temperature and density methods are sensitive to non-Maxwellian features such as heat flux and proton beams and as a result are more suited to slow solar wind where these features are rare. These procedures are of general use in identifying the accuracy of observations from any solar wind ion instrument.

The influence of solar wind variability on magnetospheric ULF wave power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pokhotelov, D.; Rae, I.J.; Mann, I.R.

2015-01-01

Magnetospheric ultra-low frequency (ULF) oscillations in the Pc 4-5 frequency range play an important role in the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, both by enhancing the radial diffusion through incoherent interactions and through the coherent drift-resonant interactions with trapped radiation belt electrons. The statistical distributions of magnetospheric ULF wave power are known to be strongly dependent on solar wind parameters such as solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientation. Statistical characterisation of ULF wave power in the magnetosphere traditionally relies on average solar wind-IMF conditions over a specific time period. In this brief report, we perform an alternative characterisation of the solar wind influence on magnetospheric ULF wave activity through the characterisation of the solar wind driver by its variability using the standard deviation of solar wind parameters rather than a simple time average. We present a statistical study of nearly one solar cycle (1996-2004) of geosynchronous observations of magnetic ULF wave power and find that there is significant variation in ULF wave powers as a function of the dynamic properties of the solar wind. In particular, we find that the variability in IMF vector, rather than variabilities in other parameters (solar wind density, bulk velocity and ion temperature), plays the strongest role in controlling geosynchronous ULF power. We conclude that, although time-averaged bulk properties of the solar wind are a key factor in driving ULF powers in the magnetosphere, the solar wind variability can be an important contributor as well. This highlights the potential importance of including solar wind variability especially in studies of ULF wave dynamics in order to assess the efficiency of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.

Magnetosheath Propagation Time of Solar Wind Directional Discontinuities

Science.gov (United States)

Samsonov, A. A.; Sibeck, D. G.; Dmitrieva, N. P.; Semenov, V. S.; Slivka, K. Yu.; Å afránkova, J.; Němeček, Z.

2018-05-01

Observed delays in the ground response to solar wind directional discontinuities have been explained as the result of larger than expected magnetosheath propagation times. Recently, Samsonov et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075020) showed that the typical time for a southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) turning to propagate across the magnetosheath is 14 min. Here by using a combination of magnetohydrodynamic simulations, spacecraft observations, and analytic calculations, we study the dependence of the propagation time on solar wind parameters and near-magnetopause cutoff speed. Increases in the solar wind speed result in greater magnetosheath plasma flow velocities, decreases in the magnetosheath thickness and, as a result, decreases in the propagation time. Increases in the IMF strength result in increases in the magnetosheath thickness and increases in the propagation time. Both magnetohydrodynamic simulations and observations suggest that propagation times are slightly smaller for northward IMF turnings. Magnetosheath flow deceleration must be taken into account when predicting the arrival times of solar wind structures at the dayside magnetopause.

Wind and IMP 8 Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Shock Data

Science.gov (United States)

2004-01-01

The purpose of this project was to provide the community access to magnetosheath data near Earth. We provided 27 years of IMP 8 magnetosheath proton velocities, densities, and temperatures with our best (usually 1-min.) time resolution. IMP 8 crosses the magnetosheath twice each 125 day orbit, and we provided magnetosheath data for the roughly 27 years of data for which magnetometer data are also available (which are needed to reliably pick boundaries). We provided this 27 years of IMP 8 magnetosheath data to the NSSDC; this data is now integrated with the IMP 8 solar wind data with flags indicating whether each data point is in the solar wind, magnetosheath, or at the boundary between the two regions. The plasma speed, density, and temperature are provided for each magnetosheath point. These data are also available on the MIT web site ftp://space .mit.edu/pub/plasma/imp/www/imp.html. We provide ASCII time-ordered rows of data giving the observation time, the spacecraft position in GSE, the velocity is GSE, the density and temperature for protons. We also have analyzed and archived on our web site the Wind magnetosheath plasma parameters. These consist of ascii files of the proton and alpha densities, speeds, and thermal speeds. These data are available at ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/plasma/wind/sheath These are the two products promised in the work statement and they have been completed in full.

Effects of the Solar Wind Pressure on Mercury's Exosphere: Hybrid Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Travnicek, P. M.; Schriver, D.; Orlando, T. M.; Hellinger, P.

2017-12-01

We study effects of the changed solar wind pressure on the precipitation of hydrogen on the Mercury's surface and on the formation of Mercury's magnetosphere. We carry out a set of global hybrid simulations of the Mercury's magnetosphere with the interplanetary magnetic field oriented in the equatorial plane. We change the solar wind pressure by changing the velocity of injected solar wind plasma (vsw = 2 vA,sw; vsw = 4 vA,sw; vsw = 6 vA,sw). For each of the cases we examine proton and electron precipitation on Mercury's surface and calculate yields of heavy ions released from Mercury's surface via various processes (namely: Photo-Stimulated Desorption, Solar Wind Sputtering, and Electron Stimulated Desorption). We study circulation of the released ions within the Mercury's magnetosphere for the three cases.

Verification of high-speed solar wind stream forecasts using operational solar wind models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Reiss, Martin A.; Temmer, Manuela; Veronig, Astrid M.

2016-01-01

and the background solar wind conditions. We found that both solar wind models are capable of predicting the large-scale features of the observed solar wind speed (root-mean-square error, RMSE ≈100 km/s) but tend to either overestimate (ESWF) or underestimate (WSA) the number of high-speed solar wind streams (threat......High-speed solar wind streams emanating from coronal holes are frequently impinging on the Earth's magnetosphere causing recurrent, medium-level geomagnetic storm activity. Modeling high-speed solar wind streams is thus an essential element of successful space weather forecasting. Here we evaluate...... high-speed stream forecasts made by the empirical solar wind forecast (ESWF) and the semiempirical Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model based on the in situ plasma measurements from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft for the years 2011 to 2014. While the ESWF makes use of an empirical relation...

The influence of solar wind variability on magnetospheric ULF wave power

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Pokhotelov

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Magnetospheric ultra-low frequency (ULF oscillations in the Pc 4–5 frequency range play an important role in the dynamics of Earth's radiation belts, both by enhancing the radial diffusion through incoherent interactions and through the coherent drift-resonant interactions with trapped radiation belt electrons. The statistical distributions of magnetospheric ULF wave power are known to be strongly dependent on solar wind parameters such as solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF orientation. Statistical characterisation of ULF wave power in the magnetosphere traditionally relies on average solar wind–IMF conditions over a specific time period. In this brief report, we perform an alternative characterisation of the solar wind influence on magnetospheric ULF wave activity through the characterisation of the solar wind driver by its variability using the standard deviation of solar wind parameters rather than a simple time average. We present a statistical study of nearly one solar cycle (1996–2004 of geosynchronous observations of magnetic ULF wave power and find that there is significant variation in ULF wave powers as a function of the dynamic properties of the solar wind. In particular, we find that the variability in IMF vector, rather than variabilities in other parameters (solar wind density, bulk velocity and ion temperature, plays the strongest role in controlling geosynchronous ULF power. We conclude that, although time-averaged bulk properties of the solar wind are a key factor in driving ULF powers in the magnetosphere, the solar wind variability can be an important contributor as well. This highlights the potential importance of including solar wind variability especially in studies of ULF wave dynamics in order to assess the efficiency of solar wind–magnetosphere coupling.

Do In Situ Observations Contain Signatures of Intermittent Fast Solar Wind Acceleration?

Science.gov (United States)

Matteini, L.; Horbury, T. S.; Stansby, D.

2017-12-01

Disentangling local plasma properties and Solar origin structures in in situ data is a crucial aspect for the understanding of solar wind acceleration and evolution. This is particularly challenging at 1 AU and beyond, where structures of various origin have had time to interact and merge, smoothing out their main characteristics. Observations of more pristine plasma closer to the Sun are therefore needed. In preparation of the forthcoming Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe missions, Helios observations as close as to 0.3 AU - although old, not yet fully exploited - can be used to test our expectations and make new predictions. Recent observations (Matteini et al. 2014, 2015) have outlined the presence of intense (up to 1000km/s) and short-living velocity peaks that ubiquitously characterize the typical profile of the fast solar wind at 0.3 AU, suggesting that these features could be remnants of processes occurring in the Solar atmosphere and a signature of intermittent solar wind acceleration from coronal holes. We discuss results about statistics of these events, characterizing their physical properties and trying to link them with typical Solar temporal and spatial scales. Finally we also discuss how these velocity peaks will likely affect the future in situ exploration of the inner heliosphere by Solar Orbiter and the Parker Solar Probe.

Solar cycle variation of cosmic ray intensity along with interplanetary and solar wind plasma parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishra, R.K.; Tiwari, S.; Agarwal, R.

2008-01-01

Galactic cosmic rays are modulated at their propagation in the heliosphere by the effect of the large-scale structure of the interplanetary medium. A comparison of the variations in the cosmic ray intensity data obtained by neutron monitoring stations with those in geomagnetic disturbance, solar wind velocity (V), interplanetary magnetic field (B), and their product (V , B) near the Earth for the period 1964-2004 has been presented so as to establish a possible correlation between them. We used the hourly averaged cosmic ray counts observed with the neutron monitor in Moscow. It is noteworthy that a significant negative correlation has been observed between the interplanetary magnetic field, product (V , B) and cosmic ray intensity during the solar cycles 21 and 22. The solar wind velocity has a good positive correlation with cosmic ray intensity during solar cycle 21, whereas it shows a weak correlation during cycles 20, 22 and 23. The interplanetary magnetic field shows a weak negative correlation with cosmic rays for solar cycle 20, and a good anti-correlation for solar cycles 21-23 with the cosmic ray intensity, which, in turn, shows a good positive correlation with disturbance time index (Dst) during solar cycles 21 and 22, and a weak correlation for cycles 20 and 23. (Authors)

The Dependence of the Peak Velocity of High-Speed Solar Wind Streams as Measured in the Ecliptic by ACE and the STEREO satellites on the Area and Co-latitude of Their Solar Source Coronal Holes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmeister, Stefan J; Veronig, Astrid; Temmer, Manuela; Vennerstrom, Susanne; Heber, Bernd; Vršnak, Bojan

2018-03-01

We study the properties of 115 coronal holes in the time range from August 2010 to March 2017, the peak velocities of the corresponding high-speed streams as measured in the ecliptic at 1 AU, and the corresponding changes of the Kp index as marker of their geoeffectiveness. We find that the peak velocities of high-speed streams depend strongly on both the areas and the co-latitudes of their solar source coronal holes with regard to the heliospheric latitude of the satellites. Therefore, the co-latitude of their source coronal hole is an important parameter for the prediction of the high-speed stream properties near the Earth. We derive the largest solar wind peak velocities normalized to the coronal hole areas for coronal holes located near the solar equator and that they linearly decrease with increasing latitudes of the coronal holes. For coronal holes located at latitudes ≳ 60°, they turn statistically to zero, indicating that the associated high-speed streams have a high chance to miss the Earth. Similarly, the Kp index per coronal hole area is highest for the coronal holes located near the solar equator and strongly decreases with increasing latitudes of the coronal holes. We interpret these results as an effect of the three-dimensional propagation of high-speed streams in the heliosphere; that is, high-speed streams arising from coronal holes near the solar equator propagate in direction toward and directly hit the Earth, whereas solar wind streams arising from coronal holes at higher solar latitudes only graze or even miss the Earth.

Heating of Solar Wind Ions via Cyclotron Resonance

Science.gov (United States)

Navarro, R.; Moya, P. S.; Figueroa-Vinas, A.; Munoz, V.; Valdivia, J. A.

2017-12-01

Remote and in situ observations in the solar wind show that ion and electron velocity distributions persistently deviate from thermal equilibrium in the form of relative streaming between species components, temperature anisotropy, etc. These non-thermal features represent a source of free energy for the excitation of kinetic instabilities and fluctuations in the plasma. In this regard, it is believed that plasma particles can be heated, through a second order Fermi acceleration process, by multiple resonances with unstable counter-propagating field-aligned Ion-cyclotron waves. For multi-species plasmas, several collective wave modes participate in this process. In this work, we test this model by studying the percentage of ions that resonate with the waves modes described by the proper kinetic multi-species dispersion relation in a solar-wind-like plasma composed of electrons, protons, and alpha particles. Numerical results are compared with WIND spacecraft data to test its relevance for the existence of thresholds for the preferential perpendicular heating of He+2 ions as observed in the solar wind fast streams.

Relation between superheating and superacceleration of helium in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neugebauer, M.M.; Feldman, W.C.

1979-01-01

Solar wind data obtained by the OGO-5 and IMP-6-8 Earth satellites show a positive correlation between the ratio of helium to hydrogen temperatures, Tsub(α)/Tsub(p), and the velocity difference between the two ions, vsub(α)-vsub(p). Although this result disagrees with the Prognoz-1 results reported earlier in this journal, it is consistent with the expected control by Coulomb collisions when the solar-wind density is high. (Auth.)

Interaction of suprathermal solar wind electron fluxes with sheared whistler waves: fan instability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Krafft

Full Text Available Several in situ measurements performed in the solar wind evidenced that solar type III radio bursts were some-times associated with locally excited Langmuir waves, high-energy electron fluxes and low-frequency electrostatic and electromagnetic waves; moreover, in some cases, the simultaneous identification of energetic electron fluxes, Langmuir and whistler waves was performed. This paper shows how whistlers can be excited in the disturbed solar wind through the so-called "fan instability" by interacting with energetic electrons at the anomalous Doppler resonance. This instability process, which is driven by the anisotropy in the energetic electron velocity distribution along the ambient magnetic field, does not require any positive slope in the suprathermal electron tail and thus can account for physical situations where plateaued reduced electron velocity distributions were observed in solar wind plasmas in association with Langmuir and whistler waves. Owing to linear calculations of growth rates, we show that for disturbed solar wind conditions (that is, when suprathermal particle fluxes propagate along the ambient magnetic field, the fan instability can excite VLF waves (whistlers and lower hybrid waves with characteristics close to those observed in space experiments.

Key words. Space plasma physics (waves and instabilities – Radio Science (waves in plasma – Solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (radio emissions

Interaction of suprathermal solar wind electron fluxes with sheared whistler waves: fan instability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Krafft

2003-07-01

Full Text Available Several in situ measurements performed in the solar wind evidenced that solar type III radio bursts were some-times associated with locally excited Langmuir waves, high-energy electron fluxes and low-frequency electrostatic and electromagnetic waves; moreover, in some cases, the simultaneous identification of energetic electron fluxes, Langmuir and whistler waves was performed. This paper shows how whistlers can be excited in the disturbed solar wind through the so-called "fan instability" by interacting with energetic electrons at the anomalous Doppler resonance. This instability process, which is driven by the anisotropy in the energetic electron velocity distribution along the ambient magnetic field, does not require any positive slope in the suprathermal electron tail and thus can account for physical situations where plateaued reduced electron velocity distributions were observed in solar wind plasmas in association with Langmuir and whistler waves. Owing to linear calculations of growth rates, we show that for disturbed solar wind conditions (that is, when suprathermal particle fluxes propagate along the ambient magnetic field, the fan instability can excite VLF waves (whistlers and lower hybrid waves with characteristics close to those observed in space experiments.Key words. Space plasma physics (waves and instabilities – Radio Science (waves in plasma – Solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (radio emissions

Design of Hybrid Solar and Wind Energy Harvester for Fishing Boat

Science.gov (United States)

Banjarnahor, D. A.; Hanifan, M.; Budi, E. M.

2017-07-01

In southern beach of West Java, Indonesia, there are many villagers live as fishermen. They use small boats for fishing, in one to three days. Therefore, they need a fish preservation system. Fortunately, the area has high potential of solar and wind energy. This paper presents the design of a hybrid solar and wind energy harvester to power a refrigerator in the fishing boat. The refrigerator should keep the fish in 2 - 4 °C. The energy needed is 720 Wh daily. In the area, the daily average wind velocity is 4.27 m/s and the sun irradiation is 672 W/m2. The design combined two 100W solar panels and a 300W wind turbine. The testing showed that the solar panels can harvest 815 - 817 Wh of energy, while the wind turbine can harvest 43 - 62 Wh of energy daily. Therefore, the system can fulfil the energy requirement in fishing boat, although the solar panels were more dominant. To install the wind turbine on the fishing-boat, a computational design had been conducted. The boat hydrostatic dimension was measured to determine its stability condition. To reach a stable equilibrium condition, the wind turbine should be installed no more than 1.7 m of height.

Equatorial thermospheric wind changes during the solar cycle: Measurements at Arequipa, Peru, from 1983 to 1990

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biondi, M.A.; Meriwether, J.W. Jr.; Fejer, B.G.; Gonzalez, S.A.; Hallenbeck, D.C.

1991-01-01

Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements of Doppler shifts in the nightglow 630-nm emission line have been used to determine near-equatorial thermospheric wind velocities at Arequipa, Peru, over ∼ 2/3 of a solar cycle. Monthly-average nocturnal variations in the meridional and zonal wind components were calculated from the nightly data to remove short term (day-to-day) variability, facilitating display of seasonal changes in the wind patterns, as well as any additional changes introduced by the progression of the solar cycle. The measured seasonal variations in the wind patterns are more pronounced than the solar cycle variations and are more readily understandable in terms of the expected, underlying forcing and damping processes. For most of the years, at the winter solstice, there is a weak (≤ 100 m/s) transequatorial flow from the summer to the winter hemisphere in the early and the late night, with essentially zero velocities in between. At the equinoxes, an early-night poleward (southward) flow at solar minimum (1986) is replaced by an equatorward (northward) flow at solar maximum (1989-1990). The zonal flows are predominantly eastward throughout the night, except for the solar minimum equinoxes, where brief westward flows appear in the early and the late night. The peak eastward velocities increase toward solar maximum; at the winter solstice, they are ∼ 100-130 m/s in 1983, 1984 and 1986, reaching ∼ 200 m/s in 1988, 1989 and 1990. The present equatorial thermospheric wind determinations agree in some respects with the satellite-data-based horizontal wind model IIWM-87 and the vector spherical harmonic form of the thermospheric general circulation model

Transient flows of the solar wind associated with small-scale solar activity in solar minimum

Science.gov (United States)

Slemzin, Vladimir; Veselovsky, Igor; Kuzin, Sergey; Gburek, Szymon; Ulyanov, Artyom; Kirichenko, Alexey; Shugay, Yulia; Goryaev, Farid

The data obtained by the modern high sensitive EUV-XUV telescopes and photometers such as CORONAS-Photon/TESIS and SPHINX, STEREO/EUVI, PROBA2/SWAP, SDO/AIA provide good possibilities for studying small-scale solar activity (SSA), which is supposed to play an important role in heating of the corona and producing transient flows of the solar wind. During the recent unusually weak solar minimum, a large number of SSA events, such as week solar flares, small CMEs and CME-like flows were observed and recorded in the databases of flares (STEREO, SWAP, SPHINX) and CMEs (LASCO, CACTUS). On the other hand, the solar wind data obtained in this period by ACE, Wind, STEREO contain signatures of transient ICME-like structures which have shorter duration (<10h), weaker magnetic field strength (<10 nT) and lower proton temperature than usual ICMEs. To verify the assumption that ICME-like transients may be associated with the SSA events we investigated the number of weak flares of C-class and lower detected by SPHINX in 2009 and STEREO/EUVI in 2010. The flares were classified on temperature and emission measure using the diagnostic means of SPHINX and Hinode/EIS and were confronted with the parameters of the solar wind (velocity, density, ion composition and temperature, magnetic field, pitch angle distribution of the suprathermal electrons). The outflows of plasma associated with the flares were identified by their coronal signatures - CMEs (only in few cases) and dimmings. It was found that the mean parameters of the solar wind projected to the source surface for the times of the studied flares were typical for the ICME-like transients. The results support the suggestion that weak flares can be indicators of sources of transient plasma flows contributing to the slow solar wind at solar minimum, although these flows may be too weak to be considered as separate CMEs and ICMEs. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme

Internal plasma state of the high speed solar wind at 1 AU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldman, W.C.; Abraham--Shrauner, B.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.

1976-01-01

The character of particle velocity distributions in the high speed solar wind is presented. It is found that electron distribution shapes differ from simple bi-Maxwellians in that a hot, strongly beamed, high energy electron component is always present and is observed to move relative to a distinct low energy electron component along the magnetic field direction, B, away from the sun. The velocity difference between hot and cold electron components appears, at times, to be strongly correlated with the local Alfven speed. This correlation suggests that the solar wind heat flux is being limited some of the time in the neighborhood of 1 AU. Proton velocity distributions are also best described in terms of two relatively convecting, unresolved components. The velocity of the lower density proton beam component is generally larger than that of the main component and the temperature of the main component perpendicular to B is typically 2 to 3 times larger than its parallel temperature. Alpha particles as a whole generally move faster than the protons along B and have a temperature which is, on the average, 6 times higher than the temperature of the total proton population. Evidence is presented which supports the idea that the two-component proton structure observed in high speed regions is intimately related to fine scale velocity variations at 1 AU, and hence by inference, to prominent spatial and/or temporal structures present throughout that part of the corona from which the solar wind evolves

Statistical study of chorus wave distributions in the inner magnetosphere using Ae and solar wind parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Aryan, Homayon; Yearby, Keith; Balikhin, Michael; Agapitov, Oleksiy; Krasnoselskikh, Vladimir; Boynton, Richard

2014-08-01

Energetic electrons within the Earth's radiation belts represent a serious hazard to geostationary satellites. The interactions of electrons with chorus waves play an important role in both the acceleration and loss of radiation belt electrons. The common approach is to present model wave distributions in the inner magnetosphere under different values of geomagnetic activity as expressed by the geomagnetic indices. However, it has been shown that only around 50% of geomagnetic storms increase flux of relativistic electrons at geostationary orbit while 20% causes a decrease and the remaining 30% has relatively no effect. This emphasizes the importance of including solar wind parameters such as bulk velocity (V), density (n), flow pressure (P), and the vertical interplanetary magnetic field component (Bz) that are known to be predominately effective in the control of high energy fluxes at the geostationary orbit. Therefore, in the present study the set of parameters of the wave distributions is expanded to include the solar wind parameters in addition to the geomagnetic activity. The present study examines almost 4 years (1 January 2004 to 29 September 2007) of Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Field Fluctuation data from Double Star TC1 combined with geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters from OMNI database in order to present a comprehensive model of wave magnetic field intensities for the chorus waves as a function of magnetic local time, L shell (L), magnetic latitude (λm), geomagnetic activity, and solar wind parameters. Generally, the results indicate that the intensity of chorus emission is not only dependent upon geomagnetic activity but also dependent on solar wind parameters with velocity and southward interplanetary magnetic field Bs (Bz < 0), evidently the most influential solar wind parameters. The largest peak chorus intensities in the order of 50 pT are observed during active conditions, high solar wind velocities, low solar wind densities, high

77 FR 61597 - Avalon Wind, LLC; Avalon Wind 2, LLC; Catalina Solar, LLC; Catalina Solar 2, LLC; Pacific Wind...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-10

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. EL12-109-000] Avalon Wind, LLC; Avalon Wind 2, LLC; Catalina Solar, LLC; Catalina Solar 2, LLC; Pacific Wind Lessee, LLC; Pacific Wind 2, LLC; Valentine Solar, LLC; EDF Renewable Development, Inc.; Notice of Petition for Declaratory...

Global Solar Magnetic Field Organization in the Outer Corona: Influence on the Solar Wind Speed and Mass Flux Over the Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Réville, Victor; Brun, Allan Sacha

2017-11-01

The dynamics of the solar wind depends intrinsically on the structure of the global solar magnetic field, which undergoes fundamental changes over the 11-year solar cycle. For instance, the wind terminal velocity is thought to be anti-correlated with the expansion factor, a measure of how the magnetic field varies with height in the solar corona, usually computed at a fixed height (≈ 2.5 {R}⊙ , the source surface radius that approximates the distance at which all magnetic field lines become open). However, the magnetic field expansion affects the solar wind in a more detailed way, its influence on the solar wind properties remaining significant well beyond the source surface. We demonstrate this using 3D global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the solar corona, constrained by surface magnetograms over half a solar cycle (1989-2001). A self-consistent expansion beyond the solar wind critical point (even up to 10 {R}⊙ ) makes our model comply with observed characteristics of the solar wind, namely, that the radial magnetic field intensity becomes latitude independent at some distance from the Sun, and that the mass flux is mostly independent of the terminal wind speed. We also show that near activity minimum, the expansion in the higher corona has more influence on the wind speed than the expansion below 2.5 {R}⊙ .

Construction of Solar-Wind-Like Magnetic Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Dana Aaron

2012-01-01

Fluctuations in the solar wind fields tend to not only have velocities and magnetic fields correlated in the sense consistent with Alfven waves traveling from the Sun, but they also have the magnitude of the magnetic field remarkably constant despite their being broadband. This paper provides, for the first time, a method for constructing fields with nearly constant magnetic field, zero divergence, and with any specified power spectrum for the fluctuations of the components of the field. Every wave vector, k, is associated with two polarizations the relative phases of these can be chosen to minimize the variance of the field magnitude while retaining the\\random character of the fields. The method is applied to a case with one spatial coordinate that demonstrates good agreement with observed time series and power spectra of the magnetic field in the solar wind, as well as with the distribution of the angles of rapid changes (discontinuities), thus showing a deep connection between two seemingly unrelated issues. It is suggested that using this construction will lead to more realistic simulations of solar wind turbulence and of the propagation of energetic particles.

Global solar magetic field organization in the extended corona: influence on the solar wind speed and density over the cycle.

Science.gov (United States)

Réville, V.; Velli, M.; Brun, S.

2017-12-01

The dynamics of the solar wind depends intrinsically on the structure of the global solar magnetic field, which undergoes fundamental changes over the 11yr solar cycle. For instance, the wind terminal velocity is thought to be anti-correlated with the expansion factor, a measure of how the magnetic field varies with height in the solar corona, usually computed at a fixed height (≈ 2.5 Rȯ, the source surface radius which approximates the distance at which all magnetic field lines become open). However, the magnetic field expansion affects the solar wind in a more detailed way, its influence on the solar wind properties remaining significant well beyond the source surface: we demonstrate this using 3D global MHD simulations of the solar corona, constrained by surface magnetograms over half a solar cycle (1989-2001). For models to comply with the constraints provided by observed characteristics of the solar wind, namely, that the radial magnetic field intensity becomes latitude independent at some distance from the Sun (Ulysses observations beyond 1 AU), and that the terminal wind speed is anti-correlated with the mass flux, they must accurately describe expansion beyond the solar wind critical point (even up to 10Rȯ and higher in our model). We also show that near activity minimum, expansion in the higher corona beyond 2.5 Rȯ is actually the dominant process affecting the wind speed. We discuss the consequences of this result on the necessary acceleration profile of the solar wind, the location of the sonic point and of the energy deposition by Alfvén waves.

Wind and solar resource data sets: Wind and solar resource data sets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clifton, Andrew [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; Hodge, Bri-Mathias [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; Power Systems Engineering Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; Draxl, Caroline [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; National Wind Technology Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; Badger, Jake [Department of Wind Energy, Danish Technical University, Copenhagen Denmark; Habte, Aron [National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA; Power Systems Engineering Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO USA

2017-12-05

The range of resource data sets spans from static cartography showing the mean annual wind speed or solar irradiance across a region to high temporal and high spatial resolution products that provide detailed information at a potential wind or solar energy facility. These data sets are used to support continental-scale, national, or regional renewable energy development; facilitate prospecting by developers; and enable grid integration studies. This review first provides an introduction to the wind and solar resource data sets, then provides an overview of the common methods used for their creation and validation. A brief history of wind and solar resource data sets is then presented, followed by areas for future research.

Voyager microwave scintillation measurements of solar wind plasma parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, J.M.

1985-01-01

During the solar conjunctions of Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in August 1979, September 1980, and November 1982, temporal variations of intensity and frequency of the dual-wavelength (3.6 and 13 cm) radio transmissions from the spacecraft were observed and subsequently analyzed to infer characteristics of the solar wind plasma flow. Measurements of the temporal wave structure function were used to estimate the spectral index of the power law spatial spectrum of irregularities. Theoretical-intensity scintillation spectra were compared with measured intensity spectra to obtain least-squares estimates of (1) mean velocity, (2) random velocity, (3) axial ratio, and (4) electron density standard deviation. Uncertainties in parameter estimates were calculated by standard propagation of errors techniques. Mean velocity and electron density standard deviations in 1979-1980 show little dependence on solar latitude. Density standard deviation estimates were 3-10% of the background mean density and mean velocity estimates ranged from approx.200 km/s inside 17 solar radii to approx.300 km/s at 25 solar radii. 1982 density standard deviation estimates increased rapidly with latitude near 45 0 N, then sharply decreased north of that latitude, indicating the existence of a polar region of reduced fluctuations surrounded by a thin cone of strong density irregularities

Theoretical models for MHD turbulence in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Veltri, P.; Malara, F.

1997-01-01

The in situ measurements of velocity, magnetic field, density and temperature fluctuations performed in the solar wind have greatly improved our knowledge of MDH turbulence not only from the point of view of space physics but also from the more general point of view of plasma physics. These fluctuations which extend over a wide range of frequencies (about 5 decades), a fact which seems to be the signature of turbulent nonlinear energy cascade, display, mainly in the trailing edge of high-speed streams, a number of features characteristic of a self-organized situation: i) a high degree of correlation between magnetic and velocity field fluctuations, ii) a very low level of fluctuations in mass density and magnetic-field intensity, iii) a considerable anisotropy revealed by minimum variance analysis of the magnetic-field correlation tensor. Many fundamental processes in plasma physics, which were largely unknown or not understood before their observations in the solar wind, have been explained, by building up analytical models or performing numerical simulations. We discuss the most recent analytical theories and numerical simulations and outline the limits implicit in any analysis which consider the low-frequency solar-wind fluctuations as a superposition of linear modes. The characterization of low-frequency fluctuations during Alfvenic periods, which results from the models discussed, is finally presented

Early time interaction of lithium ions with the solar wind in the AMPTE mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lui, A.T.Y.; Goodrich, C.C.; Mankofsky, A.; Papadopoulos, K.

1986-01-01

The early time interaction of an artificially injected lithium cloud with the solar wind is simulated with a one-dimensional hybrid code. Simulation results indicate that the lithium cloud presents an obstacle to the solar wind flow, forming a shock-like interaction region. Several notable features are found: (1) The magnetic field is enhanced up to a factor of about 6 followed by a magnetic cavity downstream. (2) Solar wind ions are slowed down inside the lithium cloud, with substantial upstream reflection. (3) Most of the lithium ions gradually pick up the velocity of the solar wind and move downstream. (4) Intense and short-wavelength electric fields exist ahead of the interaction region. (5) Strong electron heating occurs within the lithium clouds. (6) The convection electric field in the in the solar wind is modulated in the interaction region. The simulation results are in remarkable agreement with in situ spacecraft measurements made during lithium releases in the solar wind by the AMPTE (Active magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers) Program

Radial evolution of the solar wind from IMP 8 to Voyager 2

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, John D.; Paularena, Karolen I.; Lazarus, Alan J.; Belcher, John W.

1995-01-01

Voyager 2 and Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) 8 data from 1977 through 1994 are presented and compared. Radial velocity and temperature structures remain intact over the distance from 1 to 43 AU, but density structures do not. Temperature and velocity changes are correlated and nearly in phase at 1 AU, but in the outer heliosphere temperature changes lead velocity changes by tens of days. Solar cycle variations are detected by both spacecraft, with minima in flux density and dynamic pressure near solar maxima. Differences between Voyager 2 and IMP 8 observations near the solar minimum in 1986-1987 are attributed to latitudinal gradients in solar wind properties. Solar rotation variations are often present even at 40 AU. The Voyager 2 temperature profile is best fit with a R(exp -0.49 +/- 0.01) decrease, much less steep than an adiabatic profile.

Results of verification and investigation of wind velocity field forecast. Verification of wind velocity field forecast model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogawa, Takeshi; Kayano, Mitsunaga; Kikuchi, Hideo; Abe, Takeo; Saga, Kyoji

1995-01-01

In Environmental Radioactivity Research Institute, the verification and investigation of the wind velocity field forecast model 'EXPRESS-1' have been carried out since 1991. In fiscal year 1994, as the general analysis, the validity of weather observation data, the local features of wind field, and the validity of the positions of monitoring stations were investigated. The EXPRESS which adopted 500 m mesh so far was improved to 250 m mesh, and the heightening of forecast accuracy was examined, and the comparison with another wind velocity field forecast model 'SPEEDI' was carried out. As the results, there are the places where the correlation with other points of measurement is high and low, and it was found that for the forecast of wind velocity field, by excluding the data of the points with low correlation or installing simplified observation stations to take their data in, the forecast accuracy is improved. The outline of the investigation, the general analysis of weather observation data and the improvements of wind velocity field forecast model and forecast accuracy are reported. (K.I.)

Statistical study of waves distribution in the inner magnetosphere using geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Aryan, H.; Yearby, K.; Balikhin, M. A.; Krasnoselskikh, V.; Agapitov, O. V.

2013-12-01

The interaction of gyroresonant wave particles with chorus waves largely determine the dynamics of the Earth's radiation belts that effects the acceleration and loss of radiation belt electrons. The common approach is to present model waves distribution in the inner magnetosphere under different values of geomagnetic activity as expressed by the geomagnetic indices. However it is known that solar wind parameters such as bulk velocity (V) and density (n) are more effective in the control of high energy fluxes at the geostationary orbit. Therefore in the present study the set of parameters of the wave distribution is expanded to include the solar wind parameters in addition to the geomagnetic indices. The present study examines almost four years (01, January, 2004 to 29, September, 2007) of Cluster STAFF-SA, Double Star TC1 and OMNI data in order to present a combined model of wave magnetic field intensities for the chorus waves as a function of magnetic local time (MLT), L-shell (L*), geomagnetic activity, and solar wind velocity and density. Generally, the largest wave intensities are observed during average solar wind velocities (3006cm-3. On the other hand the wave intensity is lower and limited between 06:00 to 18:00 MLT for V700kms-1.

Solar wind radiation damage in lunar dust grains and the characteristics of the ancient solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borg, J.; Chaumont, J.

1980-01-01

Current understanding of the exposure history of lunar dust grains to the ancient solar wind is reviewed, the work being based mostly on a Monte Carlo statistical code, describing the 'gardening' effects of the meteorite bombardment in the lunar regolith, and on analytical models, yielding the lifetimes of the grains against various types of destruction processes. Families of lunar dust grains are identified, and evidence is presented showing that lunar dust grains were not partially shielded from solar wind ions. Results of solar wind simulation experiments are used to interpret the thickness distribution of the amorphous coatings of solar wind radiation-damaged material observed on 1-micron lunar dust grains. It is argued that such distributions reflect the speed distribution of the ancient solar wind as averaged over periods of approximately 5000 years in duration, and that the ancient solar wind is less energetic than the present day solar wind

Statistical analysis of dispersion relations in turbulent solar wind fluctuations using Cluster data

Science.gov (United States)

Perschke, C.; Narita, Y.

2012-12-01

Multi-spacecraft measurements enable us to resolve three-dimensional spatial structures without assuming Taylor's frozen-in-flow hypothesis. This is very useful to study frequency-wave vector diagram in solar wind turbulence through direct determination of three-dimensional wave vectors. The existence and evolution of dispersion relation and its role in fully-developed plasma turbulence have been drawing attention of physicists, in particular, if solar wind turbulence represents kinetic Alfvén or whistler mode as the carrier of spectral energy among different scales through wave-wave interactions. We investigate solar wind intervals of Cluster data for various flow velocities with a high-resolution wave vector analysis method, Multi-point Signal Resonator technique, at the tetrahedral separation about 100 km. Magnetic field data and ion data are used to determine the frequency- wave vector diagrams in the co-moving frame of the solar wind. We find primarily perpendicular wave vectors in solar wind turbulence which justify the earlier discussions about kinetic Alfvén or whistler wave. The frequency- wave vector diagrams confirm (a) wave vector anisotropy and (b) scattering in frequencies.

Solar wind classification from a machine learning perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Heidrich-Meisner, V.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.

2017-12-01

It is a very well known fact that the ubiquitous solar wind comes in at least two varieties, the slow solar wind and the coronal hole wind. The simplified view of two solar wind types has been frequently challenged. Existing solar wind categorization schemes rely mainly on different combinations of the solar wind proton speed, the O and C charge state ratios, the Alfvén speed, the expected proton temperature and the specific proton entropy. In available solar wind classification schemes, solar wind from stream interaction regimes is often considered either as coronal hole wind or slow solar wind, although their plasma properties are different compared to "pure" coronal hole or slow solar wind. As shown in Neugebauer et al. (2016), even if only two solar wind types are assumed, available solar wind categorization schemes differ considerably for intermediate solar wind speeds. Thus, the decision boundary between the coronal hole and the slow solar wind is so far not well defined.In this situation, a machine learning approach to solar wind classification can provide an additional perspective.We apply a well-known machine learning method, k-means, to the task of solar wind classification in order to answer the following questions: (1) How many solar wind types can reliably be identified in our data set comprised of ten years of solar wind observations from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)? (2) Which combinations of solar wind parameters are particularly useful for solar wind classification?Potential subtypes of slow solar wind are of particular interest because they can provide hints of respective different source regions or release mechanisms of slow solar wind.

Comparative Validation of Realtime Solar Wind Forecasting Using the UCSD Heliospheric Tomography Model

Science.gov (United States)

MacNeice, Peter; Taktakishvili, Alexandra; Jackson, Bernard; Clover, John; Bisi, Mario; Odstrcil, Dusan

2011-01-01

The University of California, San Diego 3D Heliospheric Tomography Model reconstructs the evolution of heliospheric structures, and can make forecasts of solar wind density and velocity up to 72 hours in the future. The latest model version, installed and running in realtime at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center(CCMC), analyzes scintillations of meter wavelength radio point sources recorded by the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory(STELab) together with realtime measurements of solar wind speed and density recorded by the Advanced Composition Explorer(ACE) Solar Wind Electron Proton Alpha Monitor(SWEPAM).The solution is reconstructed using tomographic techniques and a simple kinematic wind model. Since installation, the CCMC has been recording the model forecasts and comparing them with ACE measurements, and with forecasts made using other heliospheric models hosted by the CCMC. We report the preliminary results of this validation work and comparison with alternative models.

Solar wind acceleration in a prescribed flow geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Biernat, H.; Koemle, N.; Lichtenegger, H.

1985-01-01

It is known that the flow tubes above coronal holes diverge stronger than radial and that the magnetic field lines may be considerably curved near the border of the holes. The authors investigate the consequences of such a magnetic field geometry on the flow of the solar wind plasma in the vicinity of the Sun. For this purpose the one-dimensional conservation equations are solved along prescribed flow tubes. A temperature profile based on observational data (EUV rocket-observations) is used in the calculations. In an alternative approach the temperature is determined by a polytropic index, which is assumed to be variable. The authors study how both curvature and non-radial divergence of the flow tubes modify the velocity, the density, and the energy balance of the solar wind plasma. (Auth.)

The distribution of waves in the inner magnetosphere as a function of solar wind parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Aryan, Homayon; Balikhin, Michael A.; Agapitov, Oleksiy; Krasnoselskikh, Vladimir; Yearby, Keith

Energetic electrons within the Earth’s radiation belts represent a serious hazard to geostationary satellites. The interactions of electrons with chorus waves play an important role in both the acceleration and loss of radiation belt electrons. Studies of the evolution of energetic electron fluxes rely heavily on numerical codes in order to model energy and pitch angle diffusion due to electron interaction with plasma waves in the frame of quasilinear approximation. Application of these codes requires knowledge of statistical wave models to present wave distributions in the magnetosphere. A number of such models are based on CRESS, Cluster, THEMIS and other mission data. These models present wave distributions as a function of L-shell, magnetic local time, magnetic latitude and geomagnetic activity expressed by geomagnetic indices (Kp or Ae). However, it has been shown by G. Reeves and co-authors that only 50% of geomagnetic storms increase flux of relativistic electrons at GEO while 20% cause a decrease. This emphasizes the importance of including solar wind parameters in addition to geomagnetic indices. The present study examines almost four years (01, January, 2004 to 29, September, 2007) of STAFF (Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Field Fluctuation) data from Double Star TC1 combined with geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters from OMNI database in order to present a comprehensive model of chorus wave intensities as a function of L-shell, magnetic local time, magnetic latitude, geomagnetic indices and solar wind parameters. The results show that chorus emission is not only sub-storm dependent but also dependent upon solar wind parameters with solar wind velocity evidently the most influential solar wind parameter. The largest peak intensities are observed for lower band chorus during active conditions, high solar wind velocity, low density and high pressure.

SOLAR WIND PROTONS AT 1 AU: TRENDS AND BOUNDS, CONSTRAINTS AND CORRELATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hellinger, Petr; Trávníček, Pavel M., E-mail: petr.hellinger@asu.cas.cz [Astronomical Institute, AS CR, Bocni II/1401,CZ-14100 Prague (Czech Republic)

2014-03-20

The proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind exhibits apparent bounds which are compatible with the theoretical constraints imposed by temperature-anisotropy-driven kinetic instabilities. Recent statistical analyses based on conditional averaging indicate that near these theoretical constraints the solar wind protons typically have enhanced temperatures and a weaker collisionality. Here we carefully analyze the solar wind data and show that these results are a consequence of superposition of multiple correlations in the solar wind, namely, they mostly result from the correlation between the proton temperature and the solar wind velocity and from the superimposed anti-correlation between the proton temperature anisotropy and the proton parallel beta in the fast solar wind. Colder and more collisional data are distributed around temperature isotropy whereas hotter and less collisional data have a wider range of the temperature anisotropy anti-correlated with the proton parallel beta with signatures of constraints owing to the temperature-anisotropy-driven instabilities. However, most of the hot and weakly collisional data, including the hottest and least collisional ones, lies far from the marginal stability regions. Consequently, we conclude that there is no clear relation between the enhanced temperatures and instability constraints and that the conditional averaging used for these analyses must be used carefully and need to be well tested.

Solar wind structure out of the ecliptic plane over solar cycles

Science.gov (United States)

Sokol, J. M.; Bzowski, M.; Tokumaru, M.

2017-12-01

Sun constantly emits a stream of plasma known as solar wind. Ground-based observations of the solar wind speed through the interplanetary scintillations (IPS) of radio flux from distant point sources and in-situ measurements by Ulysses mission revealed that the solar wind flow has different characteristics depending on the latitude. This latitudinal structure evolves with the cycle of solar activity. The knowledge on the evolution of solar wind structure is important for understanding the interaction between the interstellar medium surrounding the Sun and the solar wind, which is responsible for creation of the heliosphere. The solar wind structure must be taken into account in interpretation of most of the observations of heliospheric energetic neutral atoms, interstellar neutral atoms, pickup ions, and heliospheric backscatter glow. The information on the solar wind structure is not any longer available from direct measurements after the termination of Ulysses mission and the only source of the solar wind out of the ecliptic plane is the IPS observations. However, the solar wind structure obtained from this method contains inevitable gaps in the time- and heliolatitude coverage. Sokół et al 2015 used the solar wind speed data out of the ecliptic plane retrieved from the IPS observations performed by Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (Nagoya University, Japan) and developed a methodology to construct a model of evolution of solar wind speed and density from 1985 to 2013 that fills the data gaps. In this paper we will present a refined model of the solar wind speed and density structure as a function of heliographic latitude updated by the most recent data from IPS observations. And we will discuss methods of extrapolation of the solar wind structure out of the ecliptic plane for the past solar cycles, when the data were not available, as well as forecasting for few years upward.

Solar wind parameters responsible for the plasma injection into the magnetospheric ring current region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bobrov, M.S.

1977-01-01

Solar wind effect on the magnetospheric ring-current region has been considered. The correlations with solar wind parameters of the magnitude qsub(o) proportional to the total energy of particles being injected into the magnetospheric ring-current region per one hour are studied statistically and by comparison of time variations. The data on 8 sporadic geomagnetic storms of various intensity, from moderate to very severe one, are used. It is found that qsub(o) correlates not only with the magnitude and the direction of the solar-wind magnetic field component normal to the ecliptic plane, Bsub(z), but also with the variability, sigmasub(B), of the total magnetic-field strength vector. The solar-wind flux velocity ν influences the average storm intensity but the time variations of ν during any individual storm do not correlate with those of qsub(o)

ISOTOPIC MASS FRACTIONATION OF SOLAR WIND: EVIDENCE FROM FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND COLLECTED BY THE GENESIS MISSION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heber, Veronika S.; Baur, Heinrich; Wieler, Rainer; Bochsler, Peter; McKeegan, Kevin D.; Neugebauer, Marcia; Reisenfeld, Daniel B.; Wiens, Roger C.

2012-01-01

NASA's Genesis space mission returned samples of solar wind collected over ∼2.3 years. We present elemental and isotopic compositions of He, Ne, and Ar analyzed in diamond-like carbon targets from the slow and fast solar wind collectors to investigate isotopic fractionation processes during solar wind formation. The solar wind provides information on the isotopic composition for most volatile elements for the solar atmosphere, the bulk Sun and hence, on the solar nebula from which it formed 4.6 Ga ago. Our data reveal a heavy isotope depletion in the slow solar wind compared to the fast wind composition by 63.1 ± 2.1 per mille for He, 4.2 ± 0.5 per mille amu –1 for Ne and 2.6 ± 0.5 per mille amu –1 for Ar. The three Ne isotopes suggest that isotopic fractionation processes between fast and slow solar wind are mass dependent. The He/H ratios of the collected slow and fast solar wind samples are 0.0344 and 0.0406, respectively. The inefficient Coulomb drag model reproduces the measured isotopic fractionation between fast and slow wind. Therefore, we apply this model to infer the photospheric isotopic composition of He, Ne, and Ar from our solar wind data. We also compare the isotopic composition of oxygen and nitrogen measured in the solar wind with values of early solar system condensates, probably representing solar nebula composition. We interpret the differences between these samples as being due to isotopic fractionation during solar wind formation. For both elements, the magnitude and sign of the observed differences are in good agreement with the values predicted by the inefficient Coulomb drag model.

ISOTOPIC MASS FRACTIONATION OF SOLAR WIND: EVIDENCE FROM FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND COLLECTED BY THE GENESIS MISSION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heber, Veronika S.; Baur, Heinrich; Wieler, Rainer [Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 25, CH-8092 Zurich (Switzerland); Bochsler, Peter [Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Bern, Sidlerstasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland); McKeegan, Kevin D. [Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 (United States); Neugebauer, Marcia [Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 (United States); Reisenfeld, Daniel B. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812 (United States); Wiens, Roger C., E-mail: heber@ess.ucla.edu [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)

2012-11-10

NASA's Genesis space mission returned samples of solar wind collected over {approx}2.3 years. We present elemental and isotopic compositions of He, Ne, and Ar analyzed in diamond-like carbon targets from the slow and fast solar wind collectors to investigate isotopic fractionation processes during solar wind formation. The solar wind provides information on the isotopic composition for most volatile elements for the solar atmosphere, the bulk Sun and hence, on the solar nebula from which it formed 4.6 Ga ago. Our data reveal a heavy isotope depletion in the slow solar wind compared to the fast wind composition by 63.1 {+-} 2.1 per mille for He, 4.2 {+-} 0.5 per mille amu{sup -1} for Ne and 2.6 {+-} 0.5 per mille amu{sup -1} for Ar. The three Ne isotopes suggest that isotopic fractionation processes between fast and slow solar wind are mass dependent. The He/H ratios of the collected slow and fast solar wind samples are 0.0344 and 0.0406, respectively. The inefficient Coulomb drag model reproduces the measured isotopic fractionation between fast and slow wind. Therefore, we apply this model to infer the photospheric isotopic composition of He, Ne, and Ar from our solar wind data. We also compare the isotopic composition of oxygen and nitrogen measured in the solar wind with values of early solar system condensates, probably representing solar nebula composition. We interpret the differences between these samples as being due to isotopic fractionation during solar wind formation. For both elements, the magnitude and sign of the observed differences are in good agreement with the values predicted by the inefficient Coulomb drag model.

On ion-cyclotron-resonance heating of the corona and solar wind

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E. Marsch

2003-01-01

Full Text Available This paper concisely summarizes and critically reviews recent work by the authors on models of the heating of the solar corona by resonance of ions with high-frequency waves (up to the proton cyclotron frequency. The quasi-linear theory of pitch angle diffusion is presented in connection with relevant solar wind proton observations. Hybrid fluid-kinetic model equations, which include wave-particle interactions and collisions, are derived. Numerical solutions are discussed, representative of the inner corona and near-Sun solar wind. A semi-kinetic model for reduced velocity distributions is presented, yielding kinetic results for heavy ions in the solar corona. It is concluded that a self-consistent treatment of particle distributions and wave spectra is required, in order to adequately describe coronal physics and to obtain agreement with observations.

Solar wind structure suggested by bimodal correlations of solar wind speed and density between the spacecraft SOHO and Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Ogilvie, K. W.; Coplan, M. A.; Roberts, D. A.; Ipavich, F.

2007-08-01

We calculate the cross-spacecraft maximum lagged-cross-correlation coefficients for 2-hour intervals of solar wind speed and density measurements made by the plasma instruments on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Wind spacecraft over the period from 1996, the minimum of solar cycle 23, through the end of 2005. During this period, SOHO was located at L1, about 200 R E upstream from the Earth, while Wind spent most of the time in the interplanetary medium at distances of more than 100 R E from the Earth. Yearly histograms of the maximum, time-lagged correlation coefficients for both the speed and density are bimodal in shape, suggesting the existence of two distinct solar wind regimes. The larger correlation coefficients we suggest are due to structured solar wind, including discontinuities and shocks, while the smaller are likely due to Alfvénic turbulence. While further work will be required to firmly establish the physical nature of the two populations, the results of the analysis are consistent with a solar wind that consists of turbulence from quiet regions of the Sun interspersed with highly filamentary structures largely convected from regions in the inner solar corona. The bimodal appearance of the distributions is less evident in the solar wind speed than in the density correlations, consistent with the observation that the filamentary structures are convected with nearly constant speed by the time they reach 1 AU. We also find that at solar minimum the fits for the density correlations have smaller high-correlation components than at solar maximum. We interpret this as due to the presence of more relatively uniform Alfvénic regions at solar minimum than at solar maximum.

Solar wind fluctuations at large scale: A comparison between low and high solar activity conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bavassano, B.; Bruno, R.

1991-01-01

The influence of the Sun's activity cycle on the solar wind fluctuations at time scales from 1 hour to 3 days in the inner heliosphere (0.3 to 1 AU) is investigated. Hourly averages of plasma and magnetic field data by Helios spacecraft are used. Since fluctuations behave quite differently with changing scale, the analysis is performed separately for two different ranges in time scale. Between 1 and 6 hours Alfvenic fluctuations and pressure-balanced structures are extensively observed. At low solar activity and close to 0.3 AU, Alfvenic fluctuations are more frequent than pressure-balanced structures. This predominance, however, weakens for rising solar activity and radial distance, to the point that a role exchange, in terms of occurrence rate, is found at the maximum of the cycle close to 1 AU. On the other hand, in all cases Alfvenic fluctuations have a larger amplitude than pressure-balanced structures. On the whole, the Alfvenic contribution to the solar wind energy spectrum comes out to be dominant at all solar activity conditions. At scales from 0.5 to 3 days the most important feature is the growth, as the solar wind expansion develops, of strong positive correlations between magnetic and thermal pressures. These structures are progressively built up by the interaction between different wind flows. This effect is more pronounced at low than at high activity. Our findings support the conclusion that the solar cycle evolution of the large-scale velocity pattern is the factor governing the observed variations

Electrostatic Solitary Waves in the Solar Wind: Evidence for Instability at Solar Wind Current Sheets

Science.gov (United States)

Malaspina, David M.; Newman, David L.; Wilson, Lynn Bruce; Goetz, Keith; Kellogg, Paul J.; Kerstin, Kris

2013-01-01

A strong spatial association between bipolar electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) and magnetic current sheets (CSs) in the solar wind is reported here for the first time. This association requires that the plasma instabilities (e.g., Buneman, electron two stream) which generate ESWs are preferentially localized to solar wind CSs. Distributions of CS properties (including shear angle, thickness, solar wind speed, and vector magnetic field change) are examined for differences between CSs associated with ESWs and randomly chosen CSs. Possible mechanisms for producing ESW-generating instabilities at solar wind CSs are considered, including magnetic reconnection.

Solar wind heating by an embedded quasi-isothermal pick-up ion fluid

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H. J. Fahr

Full Text Available It is well known that the solar wind plasma consists of primary ions of solar coronal origin and secondary ions of interstellar origin. Interstellar H-atoms penetrate into the inner heliosphere and when ionized there are converted into secondary ions. These are implanted into the magnetized solar wind flow and are essentially enforced to co-move with this flow. By nonlinear interactions with wind-entrained Alfvén waves the latter are processed in the co-moving velocity space. This pick-up process, however, also causes actions back upon the original solar wind flow, leading to a deceleration, as well as a heating of the solar wind plasma. The resulting deceleration is not only due to the loading effect, but also due to the action of the pressure gradient. To calculate the latter, it is important to take into account the stochastic acceleration that suffers at their convection out of the inner heliosphere by the quasi-linear interactions with MHD turbulences. Only then can the presently reported VOYAGER observations of solar wind decelerations and heatings in the outer heliosphere be understood in terms of the current, most likely values of interstellar gas parameters. In a consistent view of the thermodynamics of the solar wind plasma, which is composed of secondary ions and solar wind protons, we also derive that the latter are globally heated at their motion to larger solar distances. The arising heat transfer is due to the action of suprathermal ions which drive MHD waves that are partially absorbed by solar wind protons and thereby establish their observed quasi-polytropy. We obtain a quantitative expression for the solar wind proton pressure as a function of solar distance. This expression clearly shows the change from an adiabatic to a quasi-polytropic behaviour with a decreasing polytropic index at increasing distances, as has been observed by the VOYAGERS. This also allows one to calculate the average percentage of the intitial energy

Solar wind heating by an embedded quasi-isothermal pick-up ion fluid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. J. Fahr

2002-10-01

Full Text Available It is well known that the solar wind plasma consists of primary ions of solar coronal origin and secondary ions of interstellar origin. Interstellar H-atoms penetrate into the inner heliosphere and when ionized there are converted into secondary ions. These are implanted into the magnetized solar wind flow and are essentially enforced to co-move with this flow. By nonlinear interactions with wind-entrained Alfvén waves the latter are processed in the co-moving velocity space. This pick-up process, however, also causes actions back upon the original solar wind flow, leading to a deceleration, as well as a heating of the solar wind plasma. The resulting deceleration is not only due to the loading effect, but also due to the action of the pressure gradient. To calculate the latter, it is important to take into account the stochastic acceleration that suffers at their convection out of the inner heliosphere by the quasi-linear interactions with MHD turbulences. Only then can the presently reported VOYAGER observations of solar wind decelerations and heatings in the outer heliosphere be understood in terms of the current, most likely values of interstellar gas parameters. In a consistent view of the thermodynamics of the solar wind plasma, which is composed of secondary ions and solar wind protons, we also derive that the latter are globally heated at their motion to larger solar distances. The arising heat transfer is due to the action of suprathermal ions which drive MHD waves that are partially absorbed by solar wind protons and thereby establish their observed quasi-polytropy. We obtain a quantitative expression for the solar wind proton pressure as a function of solar distance. This expression clearly shows the change from an adiabatic to a quasi-polytropic behaviour with a decreasing polytropic index at increasing distances, as has been observed by the VOYAGERS. This also allows one to calculate the average percentage of the intitial energy

The solar wind control of electron fluxes in geostationary orbit during magnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popov, G.V.; Degtyarev, V.I.; Sheshukov, S.S.; Chudnenko, S.E.

1999-01-01

The dynamics of electron fluxes (with energies from 30 to 1360 keV) in geostationary orbit during magnetic storms was investigated on the basis of LANL spacecraft 1976-059 and 1977-007 data. Thirty-seven magnetic storms with distinct onsets from the time interval July 1976-December 1978 were used in the analysis. A treatment of experimental data involved the moving averaging and the overlapping epoch method. The smoothed component of electron fluxes represents mainly trapped electrons and shows their strong dependence on the solar wind velocity. The time lag between a smoothed electron flux and the solar wind velocity increases with electron energy reflecting dynamics of the inner magnetosphere filling with trapped energetic electrons originating from substorm injection regions located not far outside geostationary orbit

Predicting geomagnetic storms from solar-wind data using time-delay neural networks

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H. Gleisner

1996-07-01

Full Text Available We have used time-delay feed-forward neural networks to compute the geomagnetic-activity index Dst one hour ahead from a temporal sequence of solar-wind data. The input data include solar-wind density n, velocity V and the southward component Bz of the interplanetary magnetic field. Dst is not included in the input data. The networks implement an explicit functional relationship between the solar wind and the geomagnetic disturbance, including both direct and time-delayed non-linear relations. In this study we especially consider the influence of varying the temporal size of the input-data sequence. The networks are trained on data covering 6600 h, and tested on data covering 2100 h. It is found that the initial and main phases of geomagnetic storms are well predicted, almost independent of the length of the input-data sequence. However, to predict the recovery phase, we have to use up to 20 h of solar-wind input data. The recovery phase is mainly governed by the ring-current loss processes, and is very much dependent on the ring-current history, and thus also the solar-wind history. With due consideration of the time history when optimizing the networks, we can reproduce 84% of the Dst variance.

Resistive instabilities of current sheets in the solar wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dobrowolny, M [CNR, Laboratorio per il Plasma nello Spazio, Frascati, Italy; Trussoni, E [CNR, Laboratorio di Cosmo-Geofisica, Turin, Italy

1979-03-01

Resistive magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are investigated numerically for non-antisymmetric magnetic field profiles similar to those indicated in spacecraft data on solar wind discontinuities. The eigenvalue problem derived for the growth rate of possible instabilities from dimensionless equations for velocity and magnetic field perturbations is solved starting from the outer regions where the plasma is frozen to the magnetic field. For an antisymmetric magnetic profile, calculations show only tearing modes to be present, with instabilities occurring only at long wavelengths, while for a non-antisymmetric magnetic profile resembling the observed solar wind, calculations indicate the presence of rippling modes driven by resistivity gradients, in addition to the tearing modes. Calculations of the scale lengths of variation of the reversing component based on a scaling law relating the maximum growth rate to the magnetic Reynolds number are found to agree with observed solar current sheet scale lengths.

Solar Wind Deflection by Mass Loading in the Martian Magnetosheath Based on MAVEN Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Dubinin, E.; Fraenz, M.; Pätzold, M.; Halekas, J. S.; Mcfadden, J.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Jakosky, B. M.; Vaisberg, O.; Zelenyi, L.

2018-03-01

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN observations at Mars show clear signatures of the shocked solar wind interaction with the extended oxygen atmosphere and hot corona displayed in a lateral deflection of the magnetosheath flow in the direction opposite to the direction of the solar wind motional electric field. The value of the velocity deflection reaches ˜50 km/s. The occurrence of such deflection is caused by the "Lorentz-type" force due to a differential streaming of the solar wind protons and oxygen ions originating from the extended oxygen corona. The value of the total deceleration of the magnetosheath flow due to mass loading is estimated as ˜40 km/s.

On the penetration of solar wind inhomogeneities into the magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maksimov, V.P.; Senatorov, V.N.

1980-01-01

Laboratory experiments were used as a basis to study the process of interaction between solar wind inhomogeneities and the Earth's magnetosphere. The given inhomogeneity represents a lump of plasma characterized by an increased concentration of particles (nsub(e) approximately 20-30 cm -3 ), a discrete form (characteristic dimensions of the lump are inferior to the magnetosphere diameter) and the velocity v approximately 350 km/s. It is shown that there is the possibility of penetration of solar wind inhomogeneities inside the Earth's magnetosphere because of the appearance in the inhomogeneity of an electric field of transverse polarization. The said process is a possible mechanism of the formation of the magnetopshere entrance layer

Three-fluid, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic solar wind model with eddy viscosity and turbulent resistivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Usmanov, Arcadi V.; Matthaeus, William H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Goldstein, Melvyn L., E-mail: arcadi.usmanov@nasa.gov [Code 672, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

2014-06-10

We have developed a three-fluid, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic solar wind model that incorporates turbulence transport, eddy viscosity, turbulent resistivity, and turbulent heating. The solar wind plasma is described as a system of co-moving solar wind protons, electrons, and interstellar pickup protons, with separate energy equations for each species. Numerical steady-state solutions of Reynolds-averaged solar wind equations coupled with turbulence transport equations for turbulence energy, cross helicity, and correlation length are obtained by the time relaxation method in the corotating with the Sun frame of reference in the region from 0.3 to 100 AU (but still inside the termination shock). The model equations include the effects of electron heat conduction, Coulomb collisions, photoionization of interstellar hydrogen atoms and their charge exchange with the solar wind protons, turbulence energy generation by pickup protons, and turbulent heating of solar wind protons and electrons. The turbulence transport model is based on the Reynolds decomposition and turbulence phenomenologies that describe the conversion of fluctuation energy into heat due to a turbulent cascade. In addition to using separate energy equations for the solar wind protons and electrons, a significant improvement over our previous work is that the turbulence model now uses an eddy viscosity approximation for the Reynolds stress tensor and the mean turbulent electric field. The approximation allows the turbulence model to account for driving of turbulence by large-scale velocity gradients. Using either a dipole approximation for the solar magnetic field or synoptic solar magnetograms from the Wilcox Solar Observatory for assigning boundary conditions at the coronal base, we apply the model to study the global structure of the solar wind and its three-dimensional properties, including embedded turbulence, heating, and acceleration throughout the heliosphere. The model results are

Effects of non-Maxwellian electron velocity distribution functions and nonspherical geometry on minor ions in the solar wind

Science.gov (United States)

Burgi, A.

1987-01-01

A previous model has shown that in order to account for the charge state distribution in the low-speed solar wind, a high coronal temperature is necessary and that this temperature peak goes together with a peak of nx/np in the corona. In the present paper, one of the assumptions made previously, i.e., that coronal electrons are Maxwellian, is relaxed, and a much cooler model is presented, which could account for the same oxygen charge states in the solar wind due to the inclusion of non-Maxwellian electrons. Also, due to a different choice of the coronal magnetic field geometry, this model would show no enhancement of the coronal nx/np. Results of the two models are then compared, and observational tests to distinguish between the two scenarios are proposed: comparison of directly measured coronal Te to charge state measurements in the solar wind, determination of the coronal nx/np measurement of ion speeds in the acceleration region of the solar wind, and measurement of the frozen-in silicon charge state distribution.

On the signatures of magnetic islands and multiple X-lines in the solar wind as observed by ARTEMIS and WIND

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, S.; Newman, D. L.; Lapenta, G.; Angelopoulos, V.

2014-06-01

We report the first observation consistent with a magnetic reconnection generated magnetic island at a solar wind current sheet that was observed on 10 June 2012 by the two ARTEMIS satellites and the upstream WIND satellite. The evidence consists of a core magnetic field within the island which is formed by enhanced Hall magnetic fields across a solar wind reconnection exhaust. The core field at ARTEMIS displays a local dip coincident with a peak plasma density enhancement and a locally slower exhaust speed which differentiates it from a regular solar wind exhaust crossing. Further indirect evidence of magnetic island formation is presented in the form of a tripolar Hall magnetic field, which is supported by an observed electron velocity shear, and plasma density depletion regions which are in general agreement with multiple reconnection X-line signatures at the same current sheet on the basis of predicted signatures of magnetic islands as generated by a kinetic reconnection simulation for solar wind-like conditions. The combined ARTEMIS and WIND observations of tripolar Hall magnetic fields across the same exhaust and Grad-Shrafranov reconstructions of the magnetic field suggest that an elongated magnetic island was encountered which displayed a 4RE normal width and a 43RE extent along the exhaust between two neighboring X-lines.

Propagation of large amplitude Alfven waves in the solar wind current sheet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malara, Francesco; Primavera, Leonardo; Veltri, Pierluigi

1996-01-01

The time evolution of Alfvenic perturbations in the Solar Wind current sheet is studied by using numerical simulations of the compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. The simulations show that the interaction between the large amplitude Alfvenic pertubation and the solar wind current sheet decreases the correlation between velocity and magnetic field fluctuations and produces compressive fluctuations. The characteristics of these compressive fluctuations compare rather well with spatial observations. The behavior of the correlation between density and magnetic field intensity fluctuations and of the their spectra are well reproduced so that the physical mechanisms giving rise to these behaviors can be identified

Characteristics of Solar Wind Density Depletions During Solar Cycles 23 and 24

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keunchan Park

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Solar wind density depletions are phenomena that solar wind density is rapidly decreased and keep the state. They are generally believed to be caused by the interplanetary (IP shocks. However, there are other cases that are hardly associated with IP shocks. We set up a hypothesis for this phenomenon and analyze this study. We have collected the solar wind parameters such as density, speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF data related to the solar wind density depletion events during the period from 1996 to 2013 that are obtained with the advanced composition explorer (ACE and the Wind satellite. We also calculate two pressures (magnetic, dynamic and analyze the relation with density depletion. As a result, we found total 53 events and the most these phenomena’s sources caused by IP shock are interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME. We also found that solar wind density depletions are scarcely related with IP shock’s parameters. The solar wind density is correlated with solar wind dynamic pressure within density depletion. However, the solar wind density has an little anti-correlation with IMF strength during all events of solar wind density depletion, regardless of the presence of IP shocks. Additionally, In 47 events of IP shocks, we find 6 events that show a feature of blast wave. The quantities of IP shocks are weaker than blast wave from the Sun, they are declined in a short time after increasing rapidly. We thus argue that IMF strength or dynamic pressure are an important factor in understanding the nature of solar wind density depletion. Since IMF strength and solar wind speed varies with solar cycle, we will also investigate the characteristics of solar wind density depletion events in different phases of solar cycle as an additional clue to their physical nature.

Solar wind fluctuations at large scale - A comparison between low and high solar activity conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Bavassano, B.; Bruno, R.

1991-02-01

The influence of the sun's activity cycle on the solar wind fluctuations at time scales from 1 hour to 3 days in the inner heliosphere (0.3 to 1 AU) is investigated. Hourly averages of plasma and magnetic field data by Helios spacecraft are used. Since fluctuations behave quite differently with changing scale, the analysis is performed separately for two different ranges in time scale. Between 1 and 6 hours Alfvenic fluctuations and pressure-balanced structures are extensively observed. At low solar activity and close to 0.3 AU Alfvenic fluctuations are more frequent than pressure-balanced structures. This predominance, however, weakens for rising solar activity and radial distance, to the point that a role-exchange, in terms of occurrence rate, is found at the maximum of the cycle close to 1 AU. On the other hand, in all cases Alfvenic fluctuations have a larger amplitude than pressure-balanced structures. The Alfvenic contribution to the solar wind energy spectrum comes out to be dominant at all solar activity conditions. These findings support the conclusion that the solar cycle evolution of the large-scale velocity pattern is the factor governing the observed variations.

Three Dimensional Explicit Model for Cometary Tail Ions Interactions with Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Al Bermani, M. J. F.; Alhamed, S. A.; Khalaf, S. Z.; Ali, H. Sh.; Selman, A. A.

2009-06-01

The different interactions between cometary tail and solar wind ions are studied in the present paper based on three-dimensional Lax explicit method. The model used in this research is based on the continuity equations describing the cometary tail-solar wind interactions. Three dimensional system was considered in this paper. Simulation of the physical system was achieved using computer code written using Matlab 7.0. The parameters studied here assumed Halley comet type and include the particle density rho, the particles velocity v, the magnetic field strength B, dynamic pressure p and internal energy E. The results of the present research showed that the interaction near the cometary nucleus is mainly affected by the new ions added to the plasma of the solar wind, which increases the average molecular weight and result in many unique characteristics of the cometary tail. These characteristics were explained in the presence of the IMF.

Sputtering of Lunar Regolith Simulant by Protons and Multicharged Heavy Ions at Solar Wind Energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, Fred W.; Harris, Peter R.; Taylor, C.N.; Meyer, Harry M. III; Barghouty, N.; Adams, J. Jr.

2011-01-01

We report preliminary results on sputtering of a lunar regolith simulant at room temperature by singly and multiply charged solar wind ions using quadrupole and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry approaches. Sputtering of the lunar regolith by solar-wind heavy ions may be an important particle source that contributes to the composition of the lunar exosphere, and is a possible mechanism for lunar surface ageing and compositional modification. The measurements were performed in order to assess the relative sputtering efficiency of protons, which are the dominant constituent of the solar wind, and less abundant heavier multicharged solar wind constituents, which have higher physical sputtering yields than same-velocity protons, and whose sputtering yields may be further enhanced due to potential sputtering. Two different target preparation approaches using JSC-1A AGGL lunar regolith simulant are described and compared using SEM and XPS surface analysis.

PROTON HEATING IN SOLAR WIND COMPRESSIBLE TURBULENCE WITH COLLISIONS BETWEEN COUNTER-PROPAGATING WAVES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Jiansen; Tu, Chuanyi; Wang, Linghua; Pei, Zhongtian [School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China); Marsch, Eckart [Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, D-24118 Kiel (Germany); Chen, Christopher H. K. [Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Zhang, Lei [Sate Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Salem, Chadi S.; Bale, Stuart D., E-mail: jshept@gmail.com [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

2015-11-10

Magnetohydronamic turbulence is believed to play a crucial role in heating laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas. However, the precise connection between the turbulent fluctuations and the particle kinetics has not yet been established. Here we present clear evidence of plasma turbulence heating based on diagnosed wave features and proton velocity distributions from solar wind measurements by the Wind spacecraft. For the first time, we can report the simultaneous observation of counter-propagating magnetohydrodynamic waves in the solar wind turbulence. As opposed to the traditional paradigm with counter-propagating Alfvén waves (AWs), anti-sunward AWs are encountered by sunward slow magnetosonic waves (SMWs) in this new type of solar wind compressible turbulence. The counter-propagating AWs and SWs correspond, respectively, to the dominant and sub-dominant populations of the imbalanced Elsässer variables. Nonlinear interactions between the AWs and SMWs are inferred from the non-orthogonality between the possible oscillation direction of one wave and the possible propagation direction of the other. The associated protons are revealed to exhibit bi-directional asymmetric beams in their velocity distributions: sunward beams appear in short, narrow patterns and anti-sunward in broad extended tails. It is suggested that multiple types of wave–particle interactions, i.e., cyclotron and Landau resonances with AWs and SMWs at kinetic scales, are taking place to jointly heat the protons perpendicular and in parallel.

Solar wind stagnation near comets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galeev, A.A.; Cravens, T.E.; Gombosi, T.I.

1983-03-01

The nature of the solar wind flow near comets is examined analytically. In particular, the typical values for the stagnation pressure and magnetic barrier strength are estimated, taking into account the magnetic field line tension and the charge exchange cooling of the mass loaded solar wind. Knowledge of the strength of the magnetic barrier is required in order to determine the location of the contact discontinuity which separates the contaminated solar wind plasma and the outflowing plasma of the cometary ionosphere. (author)

Astrospheres and Solar-like Stellar Winds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wood Brian E.

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Stellar analogs for the solar wind have proven to be frustratingly difficult to detect directly. However, these stellar winds can be studied indirectly by observing the interaction regions carved out by the collisions between these winds and the interstellar medium (ISM. These interaction regions are called "astrospheres", analogous to the "heliosphere" surrounding the Sun. The heliosphere and astrospheres contain a population of hydrogen heated by charge exchange processes that can produce enough H I Ly alpha absorption to be detectable in UV spectra of nearby stars from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST. The amount of astrospheric absorption is a diagnostic for the strength of the stellar wind, so these observations have provided the first measurements of solar-like stellar winds. Results from these stellar wind studies and their implications for our understanding of the solar wind are reviewed here. Of particular interest are results concerning the past history of the solar wind and its impact on planetary atmospheres.

On the signatures of magnetic islands and multiple X-lines in the solar wind as observed by ARTEMIS and WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eriksson, S; Newman, D L; Lapenta, G; Angelopoulos, V

2014-01-01

We report the first observation consistent with a magnetic reconnection generated magnetic island at a solar wind current sheet that was observed on 10 June 2012 by the two ARTEMIS satellites and the upstream WIND satellite. The evidence consists of a core magnetic field within the island which is formed by enhanced Hall magnetic fields across a solar wind reconnection exhaust. The core field at ARTEMIS displays a local dip coincident with a peak plasma density enhancement and a locally slower exhaust speed which differentiates it from a regular solar wind exhaust crossing. Further indirect evidence of magnetic island formation is presented in the form of a tripolar Hall magnetic field, which is supported by an observed electron velocity shear, and plasma density depletion regions which are in general agreement with multiple reconnection X-line signatures at the same current sheet on the basis of predicted signatures of magnetic islands as generated by a kinetic reconnection simulation for solar wind-like conditions. The combined ARTEMIS and WIND observations of tripolar Hall magnetic fields across the same exhaust and Grad–Shrafranov reconstructions of the magnetic field suggest that an elongated magnetic island was encountered which displayed a 4R E normal width and a 43R E extent along the exhaust between two neighboring X-lines. (paper)

Additional acceleration of solar-wind particles in current sheets of the heliosphere

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Zharkova

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Particles of fast solar wind in the vicinity of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS or in a front of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs often reveal very peculiar energy or velocity profiles, density distributions with double or triple peaks, and well-defined streams of electrons occurring around or far away from these events. In order to interpret the parameters of energetic particles (both ions and electrons measured by the WIND spacecraft during the HCS crossings, a comparison of the data was carried out with 3-D particle-in-cell (PIC simulations for the relevant magnetic topology (Zharkova and Khabarova, 2012. The simulations showed that all the observed particle-energy distributions, densities, ion peak velocities, electron pitch angles and directivities can be fitted with the same model if the heliospheric current sheet is in a status of continuous magnetic reconnection. In this paper we present further observations of the solar-wind particles being accelerated to rather higher energies while passing through the HCS and the evidence that this acceleration happens well before the appearance of the corotating interacting region (CIR, which passes through the spacecraft position hours later. We show that the measured particle characteristics (ion velocity, electron pitch angles and the distance at which electrons are turned from the HCS are in agreement with the simulations of additional particle acceleration in a reconnecting HCS with a strong guiding field as measured by WIND. A few examples are also presented showing additional acceleration of solar-wind particles during their passage through current sheets formed in a front of ICMEs. This additional acceleration at the ICME current sheets can explain the anticorrelation of ion and electron fluxes frequently observed around the ICME's leading front. Furthermore, it may provide a plausible explanation of the appearance of bidirectional "strahls" (field-aligned most energetic

Analysis of the solar/wind resources in Southern Spain for optimal sizing of hybrid solar-wind power generation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Quesada-Ruiz, S.; Pozo-Vazquez, D.; Santos-Alamillos, F. J.; Lara-Fanego, V.; Ruiz-Arias, J. A.; Tovar-Pescador, J.

2010-09-01

A drawback common to the solar and wind energy systems is their unpredictable nature and dependence on weather and climate on a wide range of time scales. In addition, the variation of the energy output may not match with the time distribution of the load demand. This can partially be solved by the use of batteries for energy storage in stand-alone systems. The problem caused by the variable nature of the solar and wind resources can be partially overcome by the use of energy systems that uses both renewable resources in a combined manner, that is, hybrid wind-solar systems. Since both resources can show complementary characteristics in certain location, the independent use of solar or wind systems results in considerable over sizing of the batteries system compared to the use of hybrid solar-wind systems. Nevertheless, to the day, there is no single recognized method for properly sizing these hybrid wind-solar systems. In this work, we present a method for sizing wind-solar hybrid systems in southern Spain. The method is based on the analysis of the wind and solar resources on daily scale, particularly, its temporal complementary characteristics. The method aims to minimize the size of the energy storage systems, trying to provide the most reliable supply.

Kinetic instabilities in the solar wind driven by temperature anisotropies

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Peter H.

2017-12-01

The present paper comprises a review of kinetic instabilities that may be operative in the solar wind, and how they influence the dynamics thereof. The review is limited to collective plasma instabilities driven by the temperature anisotropies. To limit the scope even further, the discussion is restricted to the temperature anisotropy-driven instabilities within the model of bi-Maxwellian plasma velocity distribution function. The effects of multiple particle species or the influence of field-aligned drift will not be included. The field-aligned drift or beam is particularly prominent for the solar wind electrons, and thus ignoring its effect leaves out a vast portion of important physics. Nevertheless, for the sake of limiting the scope, this effect will not be discussed. The exposition is within the context of linear and quasilinear Vlasov kinetic theories. The discussion does not cover either computer simulations or data analyses of observations, in any systematic manner, although references will be made to published works pertaining to these methods. The scientific rationale for the present analysis is that the anisotropic temperatures associated with charged particles are pervasively detected in the solar wind, and it is one of the key contemporary scientific research topics to correctly characterize how such anisotropies are generated, maintained, and regulated in the solar wind. The present article aims to provide an up-to-date theoretical development on this research topic, largely based on the author's own work.

The genesis solar-wind sample return mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiens, Roger C.

2009-01-01

, including charge state distributions, velocities, and densities, all of which have been instrumental in characterizing the nature of the solar wind. However, these instruments have lacked the ability to make large dynamic range measurements of adjacent isotopes (i.e., 17 O/ 16 O ∼ 2500) or provide the permil (tenths of percent) accuracy desirable for comparison with geochemical isotopic measurements. An accurate knowledge of the solar and solar-wind compositions helps to answer important questions across a number of disciplines. It aids in understanding the acceleration mechanisms of the solar wind, gives an improved picture of the charged particle environment near the photosphere, it constrains processes within the Sun over its history, and it provides a database by which to compare differences among planetary systems with the solar system's starting composition, providing key information on planetary evolution. For example, precise knowledge of solar isotopic and elemental compositions of volatile species in the Sun provides a baseline for models of atmospheric evolution over time for Earth, Venus, and Mars. Additionally, volatile and chemically active elements such as C, H, O, N, and S can tell us about processes active during the evolution of the solar nebula. A classic example of this is the oxygen isotope system. In the 1970s it was determined that the oxygen isotopic ratio in refractory inclusions in primitive meteorites was enriched ∼4% in 16 O relative to the average terrestrial, lunar, and thermally processed meteorite materials. In addition, all processed solar-system materials appeared to each have a unique oxygen isotopic composition (except the Moon and Earth, which are thought to be formed from the same materials), though differences are in the fraction of a percent range, much smaller than the refractory material 16 O enrichment. Several theories were developed over the years to account for the oxygen isotope heterogeneity, each theory predicting a

Wave Tank Studies of Phase Velocities of Short Wind Waves

Science.gov (United States)

Ermakov, S.; Sergievskaya, I.; Shchegolkov, Yu.

Wave tank studies of phase velocities of short wind waves have been carried out using Ka-band radar and an Optical Spectrum Analyser. The phase velocities were retrieved from measured radar and optical Doppler shifts, taking into account measurements of surface drift velocities. The dispersion relationship was studied in centimetre (cm)- and millimetre(mm)-scale wavelength ranges at different fetches and wind speeds, both for a clean water surface and for water covered with surfactant films. It is ob- tained that the phase velocities do not follow the dispersion relation of linear capillary- gravity waves, increasing with fetch and, therefore, depending on phase velocities of dominant decimetre (dm)-centimetre-scale wind waves. One thus can conclude that nonlinear cm-mm-scale harmonics bound to the dominant wind waves and propagat- ing with the phase velocities of the decimetric waves are present in the wind wave spectrum. The resulting phase velocities of short wind waves are determined by re- lation between free and bound waves. The relative intensity of the bound waves in the spectrum of short wind waves is estimated. It is shown that this relation depends strongly on the surfactant concentration, because the damping effect due to films is different for free and bound waves; this results to changes of phase velocities of wind waves in the presence of surfactant films. This work was supported by MOD, UK via DERA Winfrith (Project ISTC 1774P) and by RFBR (Project 02-05-65102).

Coherent structures at ion scales in fast and slow solar wind: Cluster observations

Science.gov (United States)

Perrone, D.; Alexandrova, O.; Zouganelis, Y.; Roberts, O.; Lion, S.; Escoubet, C. P.; Walsh, A. P.; Maksimovic, M.; Lacombe, C.

2017-12-01

Spacecraft measurements generally reveal that solar wind electromagnetic fluctuations are in a state of fully-developed turbulence. Turbulence represents a very complex problem in plasmas since cross-scale coupling and kinetic effects are present. Moreover, the intermittency phenomenon, i.e. the manifestation of the non-uniform and inhomogeneous energy transfer and dissipation in a turbulent system, represents a very important aspect of the solar wind turbulent cascade. Here, we study coherent structures responsible for solar wind intermittency around ion characteristic scales. We find that, in fast solar wind, intermittency is due to Alfvén vortex-like structures and current sheets. In slow solar wind, we observe as well compressive structures like magnetic solitons, holes and shocks. By using high-time resolution magnetic field data of multi-point measurements of Cluster spacecraft, we characterize the observed coherent structures in terms of topology and propagation speed. We show that all structures around ion characteristic scales, both in fast and slow solar wind, are characterized by a strong wave-vector anisotropy in the perpendicular direction with respect to the local magnetic field. Moreover, some of them propagate in the plasma rest frame in the direction perpendicular to the local field. Finally, a further analysis on the electron and ion velocity distributions shows a high variability; in particular, close to coherent structures the electron and ion distribution functions appear strongly deformed and far from the thermodynamic equilibrium. Possible interpretations of the observed structures and their role in the heating process of the plasma are also discussed.

Turbulence in the solar wind: spectra from Voyager 2 data at 5 AU

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fraternale, F; Gallana, L; Iovieno, M; Tordella, D; Opher, M; Richardson, J D

2016-01-01

Fluctuations in the flow velocity and magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Solar System. These fluctuations are turbulent, in the sense that they are disordered and span a broad range of scales in both space and time. The study of solar wind turbulence is motivated by a number of factors all keys to the understanding of the Solar Wind origin and thermodynamics. The solar wind spectral properties are far from uniformity and evolve with the increasing distance from the sun. Most of the available spectra of solar wind turbulence were computed at 1 astronomical unit, while accurate spectra on wide frequency ranges at larger distances are still few. In this paper we consider solar wind spectra derived from the data recorded by the Voyager 2 mission during 1979 at about 5 AU from the sun. Voyager 2 data are an incomplete time series with a voids/signal ratio that typically increases as the spacecraft moves away from the sun (45% missing data in 1979), making the analysis challenging. In order to estimate the uncertainty of the spectral slopes, different methods are tested on synthetic turbulence signals with the same gap distribution as V2 data. Spectra of all variables show a power law scaling with exponents between −2.1 and −1.1, depending on frequency subranges. Probability density functions (PDFs) and correlations indicate that the flow has a significant intermittency. (invited comment)

PHOTOIONIZATION IN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landi, E.; Lepri, S. T., E-mail: elandi@umich.edu [Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)

2015-10-20

In this work we investigate the effects of photoionization on the charge state composition of the solar wind. Using measured solar EUV and X-ray irradiance, the Michigan Ionization Code and a model for the fast and slow solar wind, we calculate the evolution of the charge state distribution of He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe with and without including photoionization for both types of wind. We find that the solar radiation has significant effects on the charge state distribution of C, N, and O, causing the ionization levels of these elements to be higher than without photoionization; differences are largest for oxygen. The ions commonly observed for elements heavier than O are much less affected, except in ICMEs where Fe ions more ionized than 16+ can also be affected by the solar radiation. We also show that the commonly used O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} density ratio is the most sensitive to photoionization; this sensitivity also causes the value of this ratio to depend on the phase of the solar cycle. We show that the O{sup 7+}/O{sup 6+} ratio needs to be used with caution for solar wind classification and coronal temperature estimates, and recommend the C{sup 6+}/C{sup 4+} ratio for these purposes.

Modelling the solar wind interaction with Mercury by a quasi-neutral hybrid model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Kallio

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Quasi-neutral hybrid model is a self-consistent modelling approach that includes positively charged particles and an electron fluid. The approach has received an increasing interest in space plasma physics research because it makes it possible to study several plasma physical processes that are difficult or impossible to model by self-consistent fluid models, such as the effects associated with the ions’ finite gyroradius, the velocity difference between different ion species, or the non-Maxwellian velocity distribution function. By now quasi-neutral hybrid models have been used to study the solar wind interaction with the non-magnetised Solar System bodies of Mars, Venus, Titan and comets. Localized, two-dimensional hybrid model runs have also been made to study terrestrial dayside magnetosheath. However, the Hermean plasma environment has not yet been analysed by a global quasi-neutral hybrid model. In this paper we present a new quasi-neutral hybrid model developed to study various processes associated with the Mercury-solar wind interaction. Emphasis is placed on addressing advantages and disadvantages of the approach to study different plasma physical processes near the planet. The basic assumptions of the approach and the algorithms used in the new model are thoroughly presented. Finally, some of the first three-dimensional hybrid model runs made for Mercury are presented. The resulting macroscopic plasma parameters and the morphology of the magnetic field demonstrate the applicability of the new approach to study the Mercury-solar wind interaction globally. In addition, the real advantage of the kinetic hybrid model approach is to study the property of individual ions, and the study clearly demonstrates the large potential of the approach to address these more detailed issues by a quasi-neutral hybrid model in the future.Key words. Magnetospheric physics (planetary magnetospheres; solar wind-magnetosphere interactions – Space plasma

Power generation from wind turbines in a solar chimney

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foote, Tudor [Graduate Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis, Jolley Hall, Campus Box 1185, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 (United States); Agarwal, Ramesh K. [William Palm Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University in St. Louis, Jolley Hall, Campus Box 1185, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130 (United States)

2013-07-01

Recent studies have shown that shrouded wind turbines can generate greater power compared to bare turbines. A solar chimney generates an upward draft of wind inside a tower and a shroud around the wind turbine. There are numerous empty silos on farms in the U.S. that can be converted to solar chimneys with minor modifications at modest cost. The objective of this study is to determine the potential of these silos/chimneys for generating wind power. The study is conducted through analytical/computational approach by employing the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. Computations are performed for five different geometric configurations consisting of a turbine, a cylindrical silo, and/or a venturi and/or a diffuser using the dimensions of typical silos and assuming Class 3 wind velocity. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the Boussinesq approximation and a two equation realizable {kappa}-{epsilon} model are employed in the calculations, and the turbine is modeled as an actuator disk. The power coefficient (Cp) and generated power are calculated for the five cases. Consistent with recent literature, it was found that the silos with diffusers increase the Cp beyond Betz’s limit significantly and thus the generated power. It should be noted that Cp is calculated by normalizing it by the turbine area swept by the wind. This study shows the potential of using abandoned silos in the mid-west and other parts of the country for localized wind power generation.

Solar Wind Earth Exchange Project (SWEEP)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-10-28

highly charged ions of the solar wind. The main challenge in predicting the resultant photon flux in the X-ray energy bands is due to the...Newton, an X-ray astronomical observatory. We use OMNI solar wind conditions, heavy ion composition data from ACE, the Hodges neutral hydrogen model...of SWEEP was to compare theoretical models of X-ray emission in the terrestrial magnetosphere caused by the Solar Wind Charge Exchange

Study on Pyroelectric Harvesters Integrating Solar Radiation with Wind Power

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chun-Ching Hsiao

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Pyroelectric harvesters use temperature fluctuations to generate electrical outputs. Solar radiation and waste heat are rich energy sources that can be harvested. Pyroelectric energy converters offer a novel and direct energy-conversion technology by transforming time-dependent temperatures directly into electricity. Moreover, the great challenge for pyroelectric energy harvesting lies in finding promising temperature variations or an alternating thermal loading in real situations. Hence, in this article, a novel pyroelectric harvester integrating solar radiation with wind power by the pyroelectric effect is proposed. Solar radiation is a thermal source, and wind is a dynamic potential. A disk generator is used for harvesting wind power. A mechanism is considered to convert the rotary energy of the disk generator to drive a shutter for generating temperature variations in pyroelectric cells using a planetary gear system. The optimal period of the pyroelectric cells is 35 s to harvest the stored energy, about 70 μJ, while the rotary velocity of the disk generator is about 31 RPM and the wind speed is about 1 m/s. In this state, the stored energy acquired from the pyroelectric harvester is about 75% more than that from the disk generator. Although the generated energy of the proposed pyroelectric harvester is less than that of the disk generator, the pyroelectric harvester plays a complementary role when the disk generator is inactive in situations of low wind speed.

Heating and acceleration of solar wind ions by turbulent wave spectrum in inhomogeneous expanding plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ofman, Leon, E-mail: Leon.Ofman@nasa.gov [Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Visiting, Department of Geosciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv (Israel); Ozak, Nataly [Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Leuven (Belgium); Viñas, Adolfo F. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)

2016-03-25

Near the Sun (< 10R{sub s}) the acceleration, heating, and propagation of the solar wind are likely affected by the background inhomogeneities of the magnetized plasma. The heating and the acceleration of the solar wind ions by turbulent wave spectrum in inhomogeneous plasma is studied using a 2.5D hybrid model. The hybrid model describes the kinetics of the ions, while the electrons are modeled as massless neutralizing fluid in an expanding box approach. Turbulent magnetic fluctuations dominated by power-law frequency spectra, which are evident from in-situ as well as remote sensing measurements, are used in our models. The effects of background density inhomogeneity across the magnetic field on the resonant ion heating are studied. The effect of super-Alfvénic ion drift on the ion heating is investigated. It is found that the turbulent wave spectrum of initially parallel propagating waves cascades to oblique modes, and leads to enhanced resonant ion heating due to the inhomogeneity. The acceleration of the solar wind ions is achieved by the parametric instability of large amplitude waves in the spectrum, and is also affected by the inhomogeneity. The results of the study provide the ion temperature anisotropy and drift velocity temporal evolution due to relaxation of the instability. The non-Maxwellian velocity distribution functions (VDFs) of the ions are modeled in the inhomogeneous solar wind plasma in the acceleration region close to the Sun.

SOLAR WIND STRAHL BROADENING BY SELF-GENERATED PLASMA WAVES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pavan, J.; Gaelzer, R. [UFPEL, Pelotas (Brazil); Vinas, A. F. [NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Yoon, P. H. [IPST, UMD, College Park, MD (United States); Ziebell, L. F., E-mail: joel.pavan@ufpel.edu.br, E-mail: rudi@ufpel.edu.br, E-mail: adolfo.vinas@nasa.gov, E-mail: yoonp@umd.edu, E-mail: luiz.ziebell@ufrgs.br [UFRGS, Porto Alegre (Brazil)

2013-06-01

This Letter reports on the results of numerical simulations which may provide a possible explanation for the strahl broadening during quiet solar conditions. The relevant processes involved in the broadening are due to kinetic quasi-linear wave-particle interaction. Making use of static analytical electron distribution in an inhomogeneous field, it is found that self-generated electrostatic waves at the plasma frequency, i.e., Langmuir waves, are capable of scattering the strahl component, resulting in energy and pitch-angle diffusion that broadens its velocity distribution significantly. The present theoretical results provide an alternative or complementary explanation to the usual whistler diffusion scenario, suggesting that self-induced electrostatic waves at the plasma frequency might play a key role in broadening the solar wind strahl during quiet solar conditions.

Ion acoustic waves and related plasma observations in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurnett, D.A.; Marsch, E.; Pilipp, W.; Schwenn, R.; Rosenbauer, H.

1979-01-01

This paper presents an investigation of solar wind ion acoustic waves and their relationship to the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the solar wind plasma. Comparisons with the overall solar wind corotational structure show that the most intense ion acoustic waves usually occur in the low-velocity regions ahead of high-speed solar wind streams. Of the detailed plasma parameters investigated, the ion acoustic wave intensities are found to be most closely correlated with the electron to proton temperature ratio T/sub e//T/sub p/ and with the electron heat flux. Investigations of the detailed electron and proton distribution functions also show that the ion acoustic waves usually occur in regions with highly non-Maxwellian distributions characteristic of double-proton streams. The distribution functions for the double-proton streams are usually not resolved into two clearly defined peaks, but rather they appear as a broad shoulder on the main proton distribution. Two main mechanisms, an electron heat flux instability and a double-ion beam instability, are considered for generating the ion-acoustic-like waves observed in the solar wind. Both mechanisms have favorable and unfavorable features. The electron heat flux mechanism can account for the observed waves at moderate to large ratios of T/sub e//T/sub p/ but has problems when T/sub e//T/sub p/ is small, as sometimes occurs. The ion beam instability appears to provide more flexibility on the T/sub e//T/sub p/ ratio; however detailed comparisons using observed distribution functions indicate that the ion beam mode is usually stable. Possible resolutions of these difficulties are discussed

SOLAR WIND HEAVY IONS OVER SOLAR CYCLE 23: ACE/SWICS MEASUREMENTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lepri, S. T.; Landi, E.; Zurbuchen, T. H.

2013-01-01

Solar wind plasma and compositional properties reflect the physical properties of the corona and its evolution over time. Studies comparing the previous solar minimum with the most recent, unusual solar minimum indicate that significant environmental changes are occurring globally on the Sun. For example, the magnetic field decreased 30% between the last two solar minima, and the ionic charge states of O have been reported to change toward lower values in the fast wind. In this work, we systematically and comprehensively analyze the compositional changes of the solar wind during cycle 23 from 2000 to 2010 while the Sun moved from solar maximum to solar minimum. We find a systematic change of C, O, Si, and Fe ionic charge states toward lower ionization distributions. We also discuss long-term changes in elemental abundances and show that there is a ∼50% decrease of heavy ion abundances (He, C, O, Si, and Fe) relative to H as the Sun went from solar maximum to solar minimum. During this time, the relative abundances in the slow wind remain organized by their first ionization potential. We discuss these results and their implications for models of the evolution of the solar atmosphere, and for the identification of the fast and slow wind themselves.

An Investigation of the Sources of Earth-directed Solar Wind during Carrington Rotation 2053

Science.gov (United States)

Fazakerley, A. N.; Harra, L. K.; van Driel-Gesztelyi, L.

2016-06-01

In this work we analyze multiple sources of solar wind through a full Carrington Rotation (CR 2053) by analyzing the solar data through spectroscopic observations of the plasma upflow regions and the in situ data of the wind itself. Following earlier authors, we link solar and in situ observations by a combination of ballistic backmapping and potential-field source-surface modeling. We find three sources of fast solar wind that are low-latitude coronal holes. The coronal holes do not produce a steady fast wind, but rather a wind with rapid fluctuations. The coronal spectroscopic data from Hinode’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer show a mixture of upflow and downflow regions highlighting the complexity of the coronal hole, with the upflows being dominant. There is a mix of open and multi-scale closed magnetic fields in this region whose (interchange) reconnections are consistent with the up- and downflows they generate being viewed through an optically thin corona, and with the strahl directions and freeze-in temperatures found in in situ data. At the boundary of slow and fast wind streams there are three short periods of enhanced-velocity solar wind, which we term intermediate based on their in situ characteristics. These are related to active regions that are located beside coronal holes. The active regions have different magnetic configurations, from bipolar through tripolar to quadrupolar, and we discuss the mechanisms to produce this intermediate wind, and the important role that the open field of coronal holes adjacent to closed-field active regions plays in the process.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SOURCES OF EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR WIND DURING CARRINGTON ROTATION 2053

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fazakerley, A. N.; Harra, L. K.; Van Driel-Gesztelyi, L., E-mail: a.fazakerley@ucl.ac.uk [Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London (United Kingdom)

2016-06-01

In this work we analyze multiple sources of solar wind through a full Carrington Rotation (CR 2053) by analyzing the solar data through spectroscopic observations of the plasma upflow regions and the in situ data of the wind itself. Following earlier authors, we link solar and in situ observations by a combination of ballistic backmapping and potential-field source-surface modeling. We find three sources of fast solar wind that are low-latitude coronal holes. The coronal holes do not produce a steady fast wind, but rather a wind with rapid fluctuations. The coronal spectroscopic data from Hinode ’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer show a mixture of upflow and downflow regions highlighting the complexity of the coronal hole, with the upflows being dominant. There is a mix of open and multi-scale closed magnetic fields in this region whose (interchange) reconnections are consistent with the up- and downflows they generate being viewed through an optically thin corona, and with the strahl directions and freeze-in temperatures found in in situ data. At the boundary of slow and fast wind streams there are three short periods of enhanced-velocity solar wind, which we term intermediate based on their in situ characteristics. These are related to active regions that are located beside coronal holes. The active regions have different magnetic configurations, from bipolar through tripolar to quadrupolar, and we discuss the mechanisms to produce this intermediate wind, and the important role that the open field of coronal holes adjacent to closed-field active regions plays in the process.

The Solar Wind Environment in Time

Science.gov (United States)

Pognan, Quentin; Garraffo, Cecilia; Cohen, Ofer; Drake, Jeremy J.

2018-03-01

We use magnetograms of eight solar analogs of ages 30 Myr–3.6 Gyr obtained from Zeeman Doppler Imaging and taken from the literature, together with two solar magnetograms, to drive magnetohydrodynamical wind simulations and construct an evolutionary scenario of the solar wind environment and its angular momentum loss rate. With observed magnetograms of the radial field strength as the only variant in the wind model, we find that a power-law model fitted to the derived angular momentum loss rate against time, t, results in a spin-down relation Ω ∝ t ‑0.51, for angular speed Ω, which is remarkably consistent with the well-established Skumanich law Ω ∝ t ‑0.5. We use the model wind conditions to estimate the magnetospheric standoff distances for an Earth-like test planet situated at 1 au for each of the stellar cases, and to obtain trends of minimum and maximum wind ram pressure and average ram pressure in the solar system through time. The wind ram pressure declines with time as \\overline{{P}ram}}\\propto {t}2/3, amounting to a factor of 50 or so over the present lifetime of the solar system.

Numerical simulation of wind loads on solar panels

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Kao-Chun; Chung, Kung-Ming; Hsu, Shu-Tsung

2018-05-01

Solar panels mounted on the roof of a building or ground are often vulnerable to strong wind loads. This study aims to investigate wind loads on solar panels using computational fluid dynamic (CFD). The results show good agreement with wind tunnel data, e.g. the streamwise distribution of mean surface pressure coefficient of a solar panel. Wind uplift for solar panels with four aspect ratios is evaluated. The effect of inclined angle and clearance (or height) of a solar panel is addressed. It is found that wind uplift of a solar panel increases when there is an increase in inclined angle and the clearance above ground shows an opposite effect.

Characteristics of Wind Velocity and Temperature Change Near an Escarpment-Shaped Road Embankment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young-Moon Kim

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Artificial structures such as embankments built during the construction of highways influence the surrounding airflow. Various types of damage can occur due to changes in the wind velocity and temperature around highway embankments. However, no study has accurately measured micrometeorological changes (wind velocity and temperature due to embankments. This study conducted a wind tunnel test and field measurement to identify changes in wind velocity and temperature before and after the construction of embankments around roads. Changes in wind velocity around an embankment after its construction were found to be influenced by the surrounding wind velocity, wind angle, and the level difference and distance from the embankment. When the level difference from the embankment was large and the distance was up to 3H, the degree of wind velocity declines was found to be large. In changes in reference wind velocities around the embankment, wind velocity increases were not proportional to the rate at which wind velocities declined. The construction of the embankment influenced surrounding temperatures. The degree of temperature change was large in locations with large level differences from the embankment at daybreak and during evening hours when wind velocity changes were small.

Wind and solar resource data sets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clifton, Andrew; Hodge, Bri-Mathias; Draxl, Caroline

2017-01-01

The range of resource data sets spans from static cartography showing the mean annual wind speed or solar irradiance across a region to high temporal and high spatial resolution products that provide detailed information at a potential wind or solar energy facility. These data sets are used...... to support continental-scale, national, or regional renewable energy development; facilitate prospecting by developers; and enable grid integration studies. This review first provides an introduction to the wind and solar resource data sets, then provides an overview of the common methods used...... for their creation and validation. A brief history of wind and solar resource data sets is then presented, followed by areas for future research. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website....

An extended structure-function model and its application to the analysis of solar wind intermittency properties

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C.-Y. Tu

Full Text Available An extended structure-function model is developed by including the new effect in the p-model of Meneveau and Sreenivasan which shows that the averaged energy cascade rate changes with scale, a situation which has been found to prevail in non-fully-developed turbulence in the inner solar wind. This model is useful for the small-scale fluctuations in the inner heliosphere, where the turbulence is not fully developed and cannot be explained quantitatively by any of the previous intermittency turbulence models. With two model parameters, the intrinsic index of the energy spectrum α, and the fragmentation fraction P₁, the model can fit, for the first time, all the observed scaling exponents of the structure functions, which are calculated for time lags ranging from 81 s to 0.7 h from the Helios solar wind data. From the cases we studied we cannot establish for P₁ either a clear radial evolution trend, or a solar-wind-speed or stream-structure dependence or a systematic anisotropy for both the flow velocity and magnetic field component fluctuations. Generally, P₁ has values between 0.7 and 0.8. However, in some cases in low-speed wind P₁ has somewhat higher values for the magnetic components, especially for the radial component. In high-speed wind, the inferred intrinsic spectral indices α of the velocity and magnetic field components are about equal, while the experimental spectral indices derived from the observed power spectra differ. The magnetic index is somewhat larger than the index of the velocity spectrum. For magnetic fluctuations in both high- and low-speed winds, the intrinsic exponent α has values which are near 1.5, while the observed spectral exponent has much higher values. In the solar wind with considerable density fluctuations near the interplanetary current sheet near 1 AU, it is found that P₁ has a comparatively high value of 0

Solar Wind 0.1-1 keV Electrons in the Corotating Interaction Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, L.; Tao, J.; Li, G.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.; Jian, L. K.; He, J.; Tu, C.; Tian, H.; Bale, S. D.

2017-12-01

Here we present a statistical study of the 0.1-1 keV suprathermal electrons in the undisturbed and compressed slow/fast solar wind, for the 71 corotating interaction regions (CIRs) with good measurements from the WIND 3DP and MFI instruments from 1995 to 1997. For each of these CIRs, we separate the strahl and halo electrons based on their different behaviors in pitch angle distributions in the undisturbed and compressed solar wind. We fit both the strahl and halo energy spectra to a kappa function with an index κ index and effective temperature Teff, and calculate the pitch-angle width at half-maximum (PAHM) of the strahl population. We also integrate the electron measurements between 0.1 and 1.0 keV to obtain the number density n and average energy Eavg for the strahl and halo populations. We find that for both the strahl and halo populations within and around these CIRs, the fitted κ index strongly correlates with Teff, similar to the quiet-time solar wind (Tao et al., ApJ, 2016). The number density of both the strahl and halo shows a strong positive correlation with the electron core temperature. The strahl number density ns is correlated with the magnitude of interplanetary magnetic field, and the strahl PAHM width is anti-correlated with the solar wind speed. These results suggest that the origin of strahl electrons from the solar corona is likely related to the electron core temperature and magnetic field strength, while the production of halo electrons in the interplanetary medium could depend on the solar wind velocity.

Generalized multidemensional propagation velocity equations for pool-boiling superconducting windings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Christensen, E.H.; O'Loughlin, J.M.

1984-09-01

Several finite difference, finite element detailed analyses of propagation velocities in up to three dimensions in pool-boiling windings have been conducted for different electromagnetic and cryogenic environments. Likewise, a few full scale simulated winding and magnet tests have measured propagation velocities. These velocity data have been correlated in terms of winding thermophysical parameters. This analysis expresses longitudinal and transverse propagation velocities in the form of power function regression equations for a wide variety of windings and electromagnetic and thermohydraulic environments. The generalized velocity equations are considered applicable to well-ventilated, monolithic conductor windings. These design equations are used piecewise in a gross finite difference mode as functions of field to predict the rate of normal zone growth during quench conditions. A further check of the validity of these predictions is available through total predicted quench durations correlated with actual quench durations of large magnets

On Kinetic Slow Modes, Fluid Slow Modes, and Pressure-balanced Structures in the Solar Wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verscharen, Daniel [Space Science Center and Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 (United States); Chen, Christopher H. K. [Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Wicks, Robert T., E-mail: daniel.verscharen@unh.edu, E-mail: christopher.chen@imperial.ac.uk, E-mail: r.wicks@ucl.ac.uk [Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)

2017-05-10

Observations in the solar wind suggest that the compressive component of inertial-range solar-wind turbulence is dominated by slow modes. The low collisionality of the solar wind allows for nonthermal features to survive, which suggests the requirement of a kinetic plasma description. The least-damped kinetic slow mode is associated with the ion-acoustic (IA) wave and a nonpropagating (NP) mode. We derive analytical expressions for the IA-wave dispersion relation in an anisotropic plasma in the framework of gyrokinetics and then compare them to fully kinetic numerical calculations, results from two-fluid theory, and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). This comparison shows major discrepancies in the predicted wave phase speeds from MHD and kinetic theory at moderate to high β . MHD and kinetic theory also dictate that all plasma normal modes exhibit a unique signature in terms of their polarization. We quantify the relative amplitude of fluctuations in the three lowest particle velocity moments associated with IA and NP modes in the gyrokinetic limit and compare these predictions with MHD results and in situ observations of the solar-wind turbulence. The agreement between the observations of the wave polarization and our MHD predictions is better than the kinetic predictions, which suggests that the plasma behaves more like a fluid in the solar wind than expected.

On Kinetic Slow Modes, Fluid Slow Modes, and Pressure-balanced Structures in the Solar Wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verscharen, Daniel; Chen, Christopher H. K.; Wicks, Robert T.

2017-01-01

Observations in the solar wind suggest that the compressive component of inertial-range solar-wind turbulence is dominated by slow modes. The low collisionality of the solar wind allows for nonthermal features to survive, which suggests the requirement of a kinetic plasma description. The least-damped kinetic slow mode is associated with the ion-acoustic (IA) wave and a nonpropagating (NP) mode. We derive analytical expressions for the IA-wave dispersion relation in an anisotropic plasma in the framework of gyrokinetics and then compare them to fully kinetic numerical calculations, results from two-fluid theory, and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). This comparison shows major discrepancies in the predicted wave phase speeds from MHD and kinetic theory at moderate to high β . MHD and kinetic theory also dictate that all plasma normal modes exhibit a unique signature in terms of their polarization. We quantify the relative amplitude of fluctuations in the three lowest particle velocity moments associated with IA and NP modes in the gyrokinetic limit and compare these predictions with MHD results and in situ observations of the solar-wind turbulence. The agreement between the observations of the wave polarization and our MHD predictions is better than the kinetic predictions, which suggests that the plasma behaves more like a fluid in the solar wind than expected.

Coulomb collisions in the solar wind

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, L. W.; Ogilvie, K. W.; Burlaga, L. F.

1985-01-01

A major improvement of the present investigation over previous studies of the subject is related to the use of helium temperatures obtained from helium ion measurements uncontaminated by the high-velocity tail of the proton distribution. More observations, covering a large parameter range, were employed, and the effects of interspecies drift were taken into account. It is shown in a more definite way than has been done previously, that Coulomb collisions provide the most important mechanism bringing about equilibrium between helium and protons in the solar wind. Other mechanisms may play some part in restricted regions, but Coulomb collisions are dominant on the macroscale.

Heliospheric pick-up ions influencing thermodynamics and dynamics of the distant solar wind

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H. J. Fahr

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Neutral interstellar H-atoms penetrate into the inner heliosphere and upon the event of ionization are converted into pick-up ions (PUIs. The magnetized solar wind flow incorporates these ions into the plasma bulk and enforces their co-motion. By nonlinear interactions with wind-entrained Alfvén waves, these ions are then processed in the comoving velocity space. The complete pick-up process is connected with forces acting back to the original solar wind ion flow, thereby decelerating and heating the solar wind plasma. As we show here, the resulting deceleration cannot be treated as a pure loading effect, but requires adequate consideration of the action of the pressure of PUI-scattered waves operating by the PUI pressure gradient. Hereby, it is important to take into proper account the stochastic acceleration which PUIs suffer from at their convection out of the inner heliosphere by quasi-linear interactions with MHD turbulences. Only then can the presently reported VOYAGER observations of solar wind decelerations and heatings in the outer heliosphere be understood in view of the most likely values of interstellar gas parameters, such as an H-atom density of 0.12 cm-3 . Solar wind protons (SWPs appear to be globally heated in their motion to larger solar distances. Ascribing the needed heat transfer to the action of suprathermal PUIs, which drive MHD waves that are partly absorbed by SWPs, in order to establish the observed SWP polytropy, we can obtain a quantitative expression for the solar wind proton pressure as a function of solar distance. This expression clearly shows the change from an adiabatic to a quasi-polytropic SWP behaviour with a decreasing polytropic index at increasing distances. This also allows one to calculate the average percentage of initial pick-up energy fed into the thermal proton energy. In a first order evaluation of this expression, we can estimate that about 10% of the initial PUI injection energy is eventually

Correlations at large scales and the onset of turbulence in the fast solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wicks, R. T.; Roberts, D. A.; Mallet, A.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Horbury, T. S.; Chen, C. H. K.

2013-01-01

We show that the scaling of structure functions of magnetic and velocity fields in a mostly highly Alfvénic fast solar wind stream depends strongly on the joint distribution of the dimensionless measures of cross helicity and residual energy. Already at very low frequencies, fluctuations that are both more balanced (cross helicity ∼0) and equipartitioned (residual energy ∼0) have steep structure functions reminiscent of 'turbulent' scalings usually associated with the inertial range. Fluctuations that are magnetically dominated (residual energy ∼–1), and so have closely anti-aligned Elsasser-field vectors, or are imbalanced (cross helicity ∼1), and so have closely aligned magnetic and velocity vectors, have wide '1/f' ranges typical of fast solar wind. We conclude that the strength of nonlinear interactions of individual fluctuations within a stream, diagnosed by the degree of correlation in direction and magnitude of magnetic and velocity fluctuations, determines the extent of the 1/f region observed, and thus the onset scale for the turbulent cascade.

A survey of solar wind conditions at 5 AU: a tool for interpreting solar wind-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ebert, Robert W. [Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); Bagenal, Fran [Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); McComas, David J. [Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX (United States); Fowler, Christopher M., E-mail: rebert@swri.edu [Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

2014-09-19

We examine Ulysses solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) observations at 5 AU for two ~13 month intervals during the rising and declining phases of solar cycle 23 and the predicted response of the Jovian magnetosphere during these times. The declining phase solar wind, composed primarily of corotating interaction regions and high-speed streams, was, on average, faster, hotter, less dense, and more Alfvénic relative to the rising phase solar wind, composed mainly of slow wind and interplanetary coronal mass ejections. Interestingly, none of solar wind and IMF distributions reported here were bimodal, a feature used to explain the bimodal distribution of bow shock and magnetopause standoff distances observed at Jupiter. Instead, many of these distributions had extended, non-Gaussian tails that resulted in large standard deviations and much larger mean over median values. The distribution of predicted Jupiter bow shock and magnetopause standoff distances during these intervals were also not bimodal, the mean/median values being larger during the declining phase by ~1–4%. These results provide data-derived solar wind and IMF boundary conditions at 5 AU for models aimed at studying solar wind-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter and can support the science investigations of upcoming Jupiter system missions. Here, we provide expectations for Juno, which is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2016. Accounting for the long-term decline in solar wind dynamic pressure reported by McComas et al. (2013a), Jupiter's bow shock and magnetopause is expected to be at least 8–12% further from Jupiter, if these trends continue.

Were chondrites magnetized by the early solar wind?

Science.gov (United States)

Oran, Rona; Weiss, Benjamin P.; Cohen, Ofer

2018-06-01

Chondritic meteorites have been traditionally thought to be samples of undifferentiated bodies that never experienced large-scale melting. This view has been challenged by the existence of post-accretional, unidirectional natural remanent magnetization (NRM) in CV carbonaceous chondrites. The relatively young inferred NRM age [∼10 million years (My) after solar system formation] and long duration of NRM acquisition (1-106 y) have been interpreted as evidence that the magnetizing field was that of a core dynamo within the CV parent body. This would imply that CV chondrites represent the primitive crust of a partially differentiated body. However, an alternative hypothesis is that the NRM was imparted by the early solar wind. Here we demonstrate that the solar wind scenario is unlikely due to three main factors: 1) the magnitude of the early solar wind magnetic field is estimated to be limits field amplification due to pile-up of the solar wind to less than a factor of 3.5 times that of the instantaneous solar wind field, and 3) the solar wind field likely changed over timescales orders of magnitude shorter than the timescale of NRM acquisition. Using analytical arguments, numerical simulations and astronomical observations of the present-day solar wind and magnetic fields of young stars, we show that the maximum mean field the ancient solar wind could have imparted on an undifferentiated CV parent body is <3.5 nT, which is 3-4 and 3 orders of magnitude weaker than the paleointensities recorded by the CV chondrites Allende and Kaba, respectively. Therefore, the solar wind is highly unlikely to be the source of the NRM in CV chondrites. Nevertheless, future high sensitivity paleomagnetic studies of rapidly-cooled meteorites with high magnetic recording fidelity could potentially trace the evolution of the solar wind field in time.

Velocity spectrum and blade’s deformation of horizontal axis wind turbines

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Sanda BUDEA

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the velocity distribution calculated by numerical method in axial relative motion of a viscous and incompressible fluid into the impeller of a horizontal axis wind turbine. Simulations are made for different airflow speeds: 0.5,1, 3, 4, 5 m/s. The relative vortex on the backside of the blade to the trailing edge, and the vortices increase with the wind speed can be observed from the numerical analysis. Also the translational deformation-the deflection of the wind turbine blades for different values of the wind velocities has been established in this paper. The numerical simulations are made for the following speed values:5 m/s, 10m/s and 20 m/s. ANSYS CFD – Fluent was used both to calculate the velocities spectrum and to establish the translational blades deformations. The analyzed wind impeller has small dimensions, a diameter of 2 m and four profiled blades. For this small impeller the translational deformation increases with the wind velocity from 83 to 142 mm. For high wind velocities and large–scale wind turbine impellers, these translational deformations are about several meters, reason to /shut-down the impellers to wind velocities exceeding 25 m/s.

Structure and sources of solar wind in the growing phase of 24th solar cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Slemzin, Vladimir; Goryaev, Farid; Shugay, Julia; Rodkin, Denis; Veselovsky, Igor

2015-04-01

We present analysis of the solar wind (SW) structure and its association with coronal sources during the minimum and rising phase of 24th solar cycle (2009-2011). The coronal sources prominent in this period - coronal holes, small areas of open magnetic fields near active regions and transient sources associated with small-scale solar activity have been investigated using EUV solar images and soft X-ray fluxes obtained by the CORONAS-Photon/TESIS/Sphinx, PROBA2/SWAP, Hinode/EIS and AIA/SDO instruments as well as the magnetograms obtained by HMI/SDO. It was found that at solar minimum (2009) velocity and magnetic field strength of high speed wind (HSW) and transient SW from small-scale flares did not differ significantly from those of the background slow speed wind (SSW). The major difference between parameters of different SW components was seen in the ion composition represented by the C6/C5, O7/O6, Fe/O ratios and the mean charge of Fe ions. With growing solar activity, the speed of HSW increased due to transformation of its sources - small-size low-latitude coronal holes into equatorial extensions of large polar holes. At that period, the ion composition of transient SW changed from low-temperature to high-temperature values, which was caused by variation of the source conditions and change of the recombination/ionization rates during passage of the plasma flow through the low corona. However, we conclude that criteria of separation of the SW components based on the ion ratios established earlier by Zhao&Fisk (2009) for higher solar activity are not applicable to the extremely weak beginning of 24th cycle. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement eHeroes (project n° 284461, www.eheroes.eu).

Quiet-time Suprathermal (~0.1-1.5 keV) Electrons in the Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Jiawei; Wang, Linghua; Zong, Qiugang; Li, Gang; Salem, Chadi S.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.; He, Jiansen; Tu, Chuanyi; Bale, Stuart D.

2016-03-01

We present a statistical survey of the energy spectrum of solar wind suprathermal (˜0.1-1.5 keV) electrons measured by the WIND 3DP instrument at 1 AU during quiet times at the minimum and maximum of solar cycles 23 and 24. After separating (beaming) strahl electrons from (isotropic) halo electrons according to their different behaviors in the angular distribution, we fit the observed energy spectrum of both strahl and halo electrons at ˜0.1-1.5 keV to a Kappa distribution function with an index κ and effective temperature Teff. We also calculate the number density n and average energy Eavg of strahl and halo electrons by integrating the electron measurements between ˜0.1 and 1.5 keV. We find a strong positive correlation between κ and Teff for both strahl and halo electrons, and a strong positive correlation between the strahl n and halo n, likely reflecting the nature of the generation of these suprathermal electrons. In both solar cycles, κ is larger at solar minimum than at solar maximum for both strahl and halo electrons. The halo κ is generally smaller than the strahl κ (except during the solar minimum of cycle 23). The strahl n is larger at solar maximum, but the halo n shows no difference between solar minimum and maximum. Both the strahl n and halo n have no clear association with the solar wind core population, but the density ratio between the strahl and halo roughly anti-correlates (correlates) with the solar wind density (velocity).

A consistent thermodynamics of the MHD wave-heated two-fluid solar wind

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I. V. Chashei

Full Text Available We start our considerations from two more recent findings in heliospheric physics: One is the fact that the primary solar wind protons do not cool off adiabatically with distance, but appear to be heated. The other one is that secondary protons, embedded in the solar wind as pick-up ions, behave quasi-isothermal at their motion to the outer heliosphere. These two phenomena must be physically closely connected with each other. To demonstrate this we solve a coupled set of enthalpy flow conservation equations for the two-fluid solar wind system consisting of primary and secondary protons. The coupling of these equations comes by the heat sources that are relevant, namely the dissipation of MHD turbulence power to the respective protons at the relevant dissipation scales. Hereby we consider both the dissipation of convected turbulences and the dissipation of turbulences locally driven by the injection of new pick-up ions into an unstable mode of the ion distribution function. Conversion of free kinetic energy of freshly injected secondary ions into turbulence power is finally followed by partial reabsorption of this energy both by primary and secondary ions. We show solutions of simultaneous integrations of the coupled set of differential thermodynamic two-fluid equations and can draw interesting conclusions from the solutions obtained. We can show that the secondary proton temperature with increasing radial distance asymptotically attains a constant value with a magnitude essentially determined by the actual solar wind velocity. Furthermore, we study the primary proton temperature within this two-fluid context and find a polytropic behaviour with radially and latitudinally variable polytropic indices determined by the local heat sources due to dissipated turbulent wave energy. Considering latitudinally variable solar wind conditions, as published by McComas et al. (2000, we also predict latitudinal variations of primary proton temperatures at

A consistent thermodynamics of the MHD wave-heated two-fluid solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. V. Chashei

2003-07-01

Full Text Available We start our considerations from two more recent findings in heliospheric physics: One is the fact that the primary solar wind protons do not cool off adiabatically with distance, but appear to be heated. The other one is that secondary protons, embedded in the solar wind as pick-up ions, behave quasi-isothermal at their motion to the outer heliosphere. These two phenomena must be physically closely connected with each other. To demonstrate this we solve a coupled set of enthalpy flow conservation equations for the two-fluid solar wind system consisting of primary and secondary protons. The coupling of these equations comes by the heat sources that are relevant, namely the dissipation of MHD turbulence power to the respective protons at the relevant dissipation scales. Hereby we consider both the dissipation of convected turbulences and the dissipation of turbulences locally driven by the injection of new pick-up ions into an unstable mode of the ion distribution function. Conversion of free kinetic energy of freshly injected secondary ions into turbulence power is finally followed by partial reabsorption of this energy both by primary and secondary ions. We show solutions of simultaneous integrations of the coupled set of differential thermodynamic two-fluid equations and can draw interesting conclusions from the solutions obtained. We can show that the secondary proton temperature with increasing radial distance asymptotically attains a constant value with a magnitude essentially determined by the actual solar wind velocity. Furthermore, we study the primary proton temperature within this two-fluid context and find a polytropic behaviour with radially and latitudinally variable polytropic indices determined by the local heat sources due to dissipated turbulent wave energy. Considering latitudinally variable solar wind conditions, as published by McComas et al. (2000, we also predict latitudinal variations of primary proton temperatures at

Turbulent Transport in a Three-dimensional Solar Wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shiota, D. [Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601 (Japan); Zank, G. P.; Adhikari, L.; Hunana, P. [Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), Department of Space Science, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Telloni, D. [INAF—Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, I-10025 Pino Torinese (Italy); Bruno, R., E-mail: shiota@isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp [INAF-IAPS Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133 Roma (Italy)

2017-03-01

Turbulence in the solar wind can play essential roles in the heating of coronal and solar wind plasma and the acceleration of the solar wind and energetic particles. Turbulence sources are not well understood and thought to be partly enhanced by interaction with the large-scale inhomogeneity of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field and/or transported from the solar corona. To investigate the interaction with background inhomogeneity and the turbulence sources, we have developed a new 3D MHD model that includes the transport and dissipation of turbulence using the theoretical model of Zank et al. We solve for the temporal and spatial evolution of three moments or variables, the energy in the forward and backward fluctuating modes and the residual energy and their three corresponding correlation lengths. The transport model is coupled to our 3D model of the inhomogeneous solar wind. We present results of the coupled solar wind-turbulence model assuming a simple tilted dipole magnetic configuration that mimics solar minimum conditions, together with several comparative intermediate cases. By considering eight possible solar wind and turbulence source configurations, we show that the large-scale solar wind and IMF inhomogeneity and the strength of the turbulence sources significantly affect the distribution of turbulence in the heliosphere within 6 au. We compare the predicted turbulence distribution results from a complete solar minimum model with in situ measurements made by the Helios and Ulysses spacecraft, finding that the synthetic profiles of the turbulence intensities show reasonable agreement with observations.

Influence of non-bi-maxwellian distribution function of solar wind protons on the ion cyclotron instability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leubner, M.P.

1978-01-01

Satellite measurements of the thermal anisotropy of solar wind protons have shown that the particle velocity distributions at 1 AU are not adequately described by a bi-Maxwellian distribution function. On the other hand, the stability criteria derived from a bi-Maxwellian distribution require T/sub perpendicular/>T/sub parallel/, which is, however, hardly ever observed. A modified axisymmetric distribution function for solar wind protons is used here to calculate the stability and growth rate of the iom cyclotron instability in a warm slow speed solar plasma at 1 AU. Cyclotron wave growth is found also in the case t/sub parallel/>T/sub perpendicular/

High Time-Resolved Kinetic Temperatures of Solar Wind Minor Ions Measured with SOHO/CELIAS/CTOF

Science.gov (United States)

Janitzek, N. P.; Berger, L.; Drews, C.; Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.

2017-12-01

Solar wind heavy ions with an atomic number Z > 2 are referred to as minor ions since they represent a fraction of less than one percent of all solar wind ions. They can be therefore regarded as test particles, only reacting to but not driving the dynamics of the solar wind plasma, which makes them a unique diagnostic tool for plasma wave phenomena both in the solar atmosphere and the extended heliosphere. In the past, several studies have investigated the kinetic temperatures of minor ions, but due to low counting statistics these studies are based on ion velocity distribution functions (VDFs) recorded over time periods of several hours. The Charge Time-Of-Flight (CTOF) mass spectrometer as part of the Charge, ELement and Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS) onboard the SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) provides solar wind heavy ion 1D radial VDFs with excellent charge state separation, an unprecedented cadence of 5 minutes and very high counting statistics, exceeding similar state-of-the-art instruments by a factor of ten. In our study, based on CTOF measurements at Langrangian point L1 between DOY 150 and DOY 220 in 1996, we investigate systematically the influence of the VDF time resolution on the derived kinetic temperatures for solar wind silicon and iron ions. The selected ion set spans a wide range of mass-per-charge from 3 amu/e heavy ions with ion-cyclotron waves.

On the relation between ionospheric winter anomalies and solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rumi, G.C.

2001-01-01

There are two different winter anomalies. A small one that appears in connection with ionization at relatively low latitudes in the bottom of the D-region of the ionosphere. There, the electron densities in the winter happen to be less than should be expected. On the other hand, the classic winter anomaly is present when in the winter the upper D-region, again at relatively low latitudes, has more ionization than should be expected. Both these effects are due to the slant compression of the geomagnetic field produced by the solar wind in the wind in the winter season (which is, of course, the summer season when reference is made to events in the other hemisphere). It is shown that the small winter anomaly is a consequence of a hemispheric imbalance in the flux of galactic cosmic rays determined by the obliquely distorted geomagnetic field. It is shown that the standard winter anomaly can be ascribed to the influx of a super solar wind, which penetrates into the Earth's polar atmosphere down to E-region, heights and, duly concentrated through a funneling action at the winter pole of the distorted geomagnetic field, slows down the winter polar vortex. An equatorward motion of the polar air with its content of nitric oxide brings about the excess of ionization in the upper D-region at lower latitudes. The experimentally observed rhythmic recurrence of the upper winter anomaly is correlated to a possible rhythmic recurrence of the super solar wind. The actual detection of the upper winter anomaly could yield some information on the velocity of the basic solar wind. A by-product of the present analysis, the determination of Γ, the coefficient of collisional detachment of the electrons from the O 2 - ions, is presented in the Appendix

On the relation between ionospheric winter anomalies and solar wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rumi, G.C. [Lecco, (Italy)

2001-06-01

There are two different winter anomalies. A small one that appears in connection with ionization at relatively low latitudes in the bottom of the D-region of the ionosphere. There, the electron densities in the winter happen to be less than should be expected. On the other hand, the classic winter anomaly is present when in the winter the upper D-region, again at relatively low latitudes, has more ionization than should be expected. Both these effects are due to the slant compression of the geomagnetic field produced by the solar wind in the wind in the winter season (which is, of course, the summer season when reference is made to events in the other hemisphere). It is shown that the small winter anomaly is a consequence of a hemispheric imbalance in the flux of galactic cosmic rays determined by the obliquely distorted geomagnetic field. It is shown that the standard winter anomaly can be ascribed to the influx of a super solar wind, which penetrates into the Earth's polar atmosphere down to E-region, heights and, duly concentrated through a funneling action at the winter pole of the distorted geomagnetic field, slows down the winter polar vortex. An equatorward motion of the polar air with its content of nitric oxide brings about the excess of ionization in the upper D-region at lower latitudes. The experimentally observed rhythmic recurrence of the upper winter anomaly is correlated to a possible rhythmic recurrence of the super solar wind. The actual detection of the upper winter anomaly could yield some information on the velocity of the basic solar wind. A by-product of the present analysis, the determination of {gamma}, the coefficient of collisional detachment of the electrons from the O{sub 2} {sup -} ions, is presented in the Appendix.

On the Origins of the Intercorrelations Between Solar Wind Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Borovsky, Joseph E.

2018-01-01

It is well known that the time variations of the diverse solar wind variables at 1 AU (e.g., solar wind speed, density, proton temperature, electron temperature, magnetic field strength, specific entropy, heavy-ion charge-state densities, and electron strahl intensity) are highly intercorrelated with each other. In correlation studies of the driving of the Earth's magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system by the solar wind, these solar wind intercorrelations make determining cause and effect very difficult. In this report analyses of solar wind spacecraft measurements and compressible-fluid computer simulations are used to study the origins of the solar wind intercorrelations. Two causes are found: (1) synchronized changes in the values of the solar wind variables as the plasma types of the solar wind are switched by solar rotation and (2) dynamic interactions (compressions and rarefactions) in the solar wind between the Sun and the Earth. These findings provide an incremental increase in the understanding of how the Sun-Earth system operates.

A survey of solar wind conditions at 5 AU: A tool for interpreting solar wind-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter

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Robert Wilkes Ebert

2014-09-01

Full Text Available We examine Ulysses solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF observations at 5 AU for two ~13 month intervals during the rising and declining phases of solar cycle 23 and the predicted response of the Jovian magnetosphere during these times. The declining phase solar wind, composed primarily of corotating interaction regions and high-speed streams, was, on average, faster, hotter, less dense, and more Alfvénic relative to the rising phase solar wind, composed mainly of slow wind and interplanetary coronal mass ejections. Interestingly, none of solar wind and IMF distributions reported here were bimodal, a feature used to explain the bimodal distribution of bow shock and magnetopause standoff distances observed at Jupiter. Instead, many of these distributions had extended, non-Gaussian tails that resulted in large standard deviations and much larger mean over median values. The distribution of predicted Jupiter bow shock and magnetopause standoff distances during these intervals were also not bimodal, the mean/median values being larger during the declining phase by ~1 – 4%. These results provide data-derived solar wind and IMF boundary conditions at 5 AU for models aimed at studying solar wind-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter and can support the science investigations of upcoming Jupiter system missions. Here, we provide expectations for Juno, which is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2016. Accounting for the long-term decline in solar wind dynamic pressure reported by McComas et al. (2013, Jupiter’s bow shock and magnetopause is expected to be at least 8 – 12% further from Jupiter, if these trends continue.

Simulation study of solar wind push on a charged wire: basis of solar wind electric sail propulsion

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P. Janhunen

2007-03-01

Full Text Available One possibility for propellantless propulsion in space is to use the momentum flux of the solar wind. A way to set up a solar wind sail is to have a set of thin long wires which are kept at high positive potential by an onboard electron gun so that the wires repel and deflect incident solar wind protons. The efficiency of this so-called electric sail depends on how large force a given solar wind exerts on a wire segment and how large electron current the wire segment draws from the solar wind plasma when kept at a given potential. We use 1-D and 2-D electrostatic plasma simulations to calculate the force and present a semitheoretical formula which captures the simulation results. We find that under average solar wind conditions at 1 AU the force per unit length is (5±1×10−8 N/m for 15 kV potential and that the electron current is accurately given by the well-known orbital motion limited (OML theory cylindrical Langmuir probe formula. Although the force may appear small, an analysis shows that because of the very low weight of a thin wire per unit length, quite high final speeds (over 50 km/s could be achieved by an electric sailing spacecraft using today's flight-proved components. It is possible that artificial electron heating of the plasma in the interaction region could increase the propulsive effect even further.

Heating and Acceleration of Solar Wind Ions by Turbulent Wave Spectrum in Inhomogeneous Expanding Plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Ofman, Leon; Ozak, Nataly; Vinas, Adolfo F.

2016-01-01

Near the Sun (plasma. The heating and the acceleration of the solar wind ions by turbulent wave spectrum in inhomogeneous plasma is studied using a 2.5D hybrid model. The hybrid model describes the kinetics of the ions, while the electrons are modeled as massless neutralizing fluid in an expanding box approach. Turbulent magnetic fluctuations dominated by power-law frequency spectra, which are evident from in-situ as well as remote sensing measurements, are used in our models. The effects of background density inhomogeneity across the magnetic field on the resonant ion heating are studied. The effect of super- Alfvenic ion drift on the ion heating is investigated. It is found that the turbulent wave spectrum of initially parallel propagating waves cascades to oblique modes, and leads to enhanced resonant ion heating due to the inhomogeneity. The acceleration of the solar wind ions is achieved by the parametric instability of large amplitude waves in the spectrum, and is also affected by the inhomogeneity. The results of the study provide the ion temperature anisotropy and drift velocity temporal evolution due to relaxation of the instability. The non-Maxwellian velocity distribution functions (VDFs) of the ions are modeled in the inhomogeneous solar wind plasma in the acceleration region close to the Sun.

Program of solar wind data analysis utilizing data from Pioneer 6, Mariner 5 and explorer 35

Science.gov (United States)

Siscoe, G. L.

1972-01-01

A combined data analysis and theoretical program aimed at interpreting and utilizing solar wind data obtained from Pioneer 6, Mariner 5, and Explorer 35 has been completed. A theoretical model of the radial dependence of large scale solar wind inhomogeneities was developed and used to map solar wind variations measured by Explorer 35 to various heliocentric distances and to the orbits of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The model was also used to determine power spectra velocity, density and temperature variations of 20 R sub s from spectra obtained from the Mariner 5 data at an average heliocentric distance of 180 R sub s. Five stream-stream interaction events in the Pioneer 6 data were analyzed which confirmed the picture of a spiral compression ridge interfacing the two streams and the associated east-west deflections of the solar wind flow. Magnetopause crossings observed in Explorer 35 plasma data were used to develop statics on boundary motions at lunar distance. A study of the geomagnetic disturbance field asymmetry was performed and a model of disturbance field from a partial ring current was developed.

Modelling the solar wind interaction with Mercury by a quasi-neutral hybrid model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Kallio

Full Text Available Quasi-neutral hybrid model is a self-consistent modelling approach that includes positively charged particles and an electron fluid. The approach has received an increasing interest in space plasma physics research because it makes it possible to study several plasma physical processes that are difficult or impossible to model by self-consistent fluid models, such as the effects associated with the ions’ finite gyroradius, the velocity difference between different ion species, or the non-Maxwellian velocity distribution function. By now quasi-neutral hybrid models have been used to study the solar wind interaction with the non-magnetised Solar System bodies of Mars, Venus, Titan and comets. Localized, two-dimensional hybrid model runs have also been made to study terrestrial dayside magnetosheath. However, the Hermean plasma environment has not yet been analysed by a global quasi-neutral hybrid model.

In this paper we present a new quasi-neutral hybrid model developed to study various processes associated with the Mercury-solar wind interaction. Emphasis is placed on addressing advantages and disadvantages of the approach to study different plasma physical processes near the planet. The basic assumptions of the approach and the algorithms used in the new model are thoroughly presented. Finally, some of the first three-dimensional hybrid model runs made for Mercury are presented.

The resulting macroscopic plasma parameters and the morphology of the magnetic field demonstrate the applicability of the new approach to study the Mercury-solar wind interaction globally. In addition, the real advantage of the kinetic hybrid model approach is to study the property of individual ions, and the study clearly demonstrates the large potential of the approach to address these more detailed issues by a quasi-neutral hybrid model in the future.

Key words. Magnetospheric physics

Limitation of solar energy and wind energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

White, R. S.

2008-01-01

Wind turbines, solar energy collectors and photovoltaic cells have been popular sources of electricity since the oil crisis in the late seventies, and they are increasingly favored by many scientists and much of the public as methods for reducing global warming. The older wind farms in California are outdated. New wind turbines have not followed, primarily because of competition from lower-cost natural gas. The Times urges increased federal and state subsidies for the wind and solar industries. The primary reason that wind and solar energies have not made inroads in the past, and will never supply more than a few percentage points of the world's electrical energy, is their unpredictable variations in time and their constant need for back-ups. The only non-carbon-dioxide-emitting generator capable of backing up wind and solar energy and replacing coal and gas generators is nuclear fission. Nuclear power may be the practical solution to global warming, after all.

Wind Velocity and Position Sensor-less Operation for PMSG Wind Generator

Science.gov (United States)

Senjyu, Tomonobu; Tamaki, Satoshi; Urasaki, Naomitsu; Uezato, Katsumi; Funabashi, Toshihisa; Fujita, Hideki

Electric power generation using non-conventional sources is receiving considerable attention throughout the world. Wind energy is one of the available non-conventional energy sources. Electrical power generation using wind energy is possible in two ways, viz. constant speed operation and variable speed operation using power electronic converters. Variable speed power generation is attractive, because maximum electric power can be generated at all wind velocities. However, this system requires a rotor speed sensor, for vector control purpose, which increases the cost of the system. To alleviate the need of rotor speed sensor in vector control, we propose a new sensor-less control of PMSG (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator) based on the flux linkage. We can estimate the rotor position using the estimated flux linkage. We use a first-order lag compensator to obtain the flux linkage. Furthermore‚we estimate wind velocity and rotation speed using a observer. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated thorough simulation results.

Solar wind stream interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosling, J.T.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.; Feldman, W.C.

1978-01-01

Measurements aboard Imp 6, 7, and 8 reveal that approximately one third of all high-speed solar wind streams observed at 1 AU contain a sharp boundary (of thickness less than approx.4 x 10 4 km) near their leading edge, called a stream interface, which separates plasma of distinctly different properties and origins. Identified as discontinuities across which the density drops abruptly, the proton temperature increases abruptly, and the speed rises, stream interfaces are remarkably similar in character from one stream to the next. A superposed epoch analysis of plasma data has been performed for 23 discontinuous stream interfaces observed during the interval March 1971 through August 1974. Among the results of this analysis are the following: (1) a stream interface separates what was originally thick (i.e., dense) slow gas from what was originally thin (i.e., rare) fast gas; (2) the interface is the site of a discontinuous shear in the solar wind flow in a frame of reference corotating with the sun; (3) stream interfaces occur at speeds less than 450 km s - 1 and close to or at the maximum of the pressure ridge at the leading edges of high-speed streams; (4) a discontinuous rise by approx.40% in electron temperature occurs at the interface; and (5) discontinuous changes (usually rises) in alpha particle abundance and flow speed relative to the protons occur at the interface. Stream interfaces do not generally recur on successive solar rotations, even though the streams in which they are embedded often do. At distances beyond several astronomical units, stream interfaces should be bounded by forward-reverse shock pairs; three of four reverse shocks observed at 1 AU during 1971--1974 were preceded within approx.1 day by stream interfaces. Our observations suggest that many streams close to the sun are bounded on all sides by large radial velocity shears separating rapidly expanding plasma from more slowly expanding plasma

Solar energy system with wind vane

Science.gov (United States)

Grip, Robert E

2015-11-03

A solar energy system including a pedestal defining a longitudinal axis, a frame that is supported by the pedestal and that is rotateable relative to the pedestal about the longitudinal axis, the frame including at least one solar device, and a wind vane operatively connected to the frame to urge the frame relative to the pedestal about the longitudinal axis in response to wind acting on the wind vane.

Correlation of Magnetic Fields with Solar Wind Plasma Parameters at 1AU

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, F.

2017-12-01

The physical parameters of the solar wind observed in-situ near 1AU have been studied for several decades, and relationships between them, such as the positive correlation between the solar wind plasma temperature T and velocity V, and the negative correlation between density N and velocity V, are well known. However, the magnetic field intensity does not appear to be well correlated with any individual plasma parameter. In this paper, we discuss previously under-reported correlations between B and the combined plasma parameters √NV2 as well as between B and √NT. These two correlations are strong during the periods of corotating interaction regions and high speed streams, moderate during intervals of slow solar wind, and rather poor during the passage of interplanetary coronal mass ejections. The results indicate that the magnetic pressure in the solar wind is well correlated both with the plasma dynamic pressure and the thermal pressure. Then, we employ a 3D MHD model to simulate the formation of the relationships between the magnetic strength B and √NV2 as well as √NT observed at 1AU. The inner boundary condition is derived by empirical models, with the magnetic field and density are optional. Five kinds of boundary conditions at the inner boundary of heliosphere are tested. In the cases that the magnetic field is related to speed at the inner boundary, the correlation coefficients between B and √NV2 as well as between B and √NT are even higher than that in the observational results. At 1AU the simulated radial magnetic field shows little latitude dependence, which matches the observation of Ulysses. Most of the modeled characters in these cases are closer to observation than others. This inner boundary condition may more accurately characterize Sun's magnetic influence on the heliosphere. The new input may be able to improve the simulation of CME propagation in the inner heliosphere and the space weather forecasting.

Simulation study of solar wind push on a charged wire: basis of solar wind electric sail propulsion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Janhunen

2007-03-01

Full Text Available One possibility for propellantless propulsion in space is to use the momentum flux of the solar wind. A way to set up a solar wind sail is to have a set of thin long wires which are kept at high positive potential by an onboard electron gun so that the wires repel and deflect incident solar wind protons. The efficiency of this so-called electric sail depends on how large force a given solar wind exerts on a wire segment and how large electron current the wire segment draws from the solar wind plasma when kept at a given potential. We use 1-D and 2-D electrostatic plasma simulations to calculate the force and present a semitheoretical formula which captures the simulation results. We find that under average solar wind conditions at 1 AU the force per unit length is (5±1×10⁻⁸ N/m for 15 kV potential and that the electron current is accurately given by the well-known orbital motion limited (OML theory cylindrical Langmuir probe formula. Although the force may appear small, an analysis shows that because of the very low weight of a thin wire per unit length, quite high final speeds (over 50 km/s could be achieved by an electric sailing spacecraft using today's flight-proved components. It is possible that artificial electron heating of the plasma in the interaction region could increase the propulsive effect even further.

Interplanetary ions during an energetic storm particle event - The distribution function from solar wind thermal energies to 1.6 MeV

Science.gov (United States)

Gosling, J. T.; Asbridge, J. R.; Bame, S. J.; Feldman, W. C.; Zwickl, R. D.; Paschmann, G.; Sckopke, N.; Hynds, R. J.

1981-01-01

An ion velocity distribution function of the postshock phase of an energetic storm particle (ESP) event is obtained from data from the ISEE 2 and ISEE 3 experiments. The distribution function is roughly isotropic in the solar wind frame from solar wind thermal energies to 1.6 MeV. The ESP event studied (8/27/78) is superposed upon a more energetic particle event which was predominantly field-aligned and which was probably of solar origin. The observations suggest that the ESP population is accelerated directly out of the solar wind thermal population or its quiescent suprathermal tail by a stochastic process associated with shock wave disturbance. The acceleration mechanism is sufficiently efficient so that approximately 1% of the solar wind population is accelerated to suprathermal energies. These suprathermal particles have an energy density of approximately 290 eV cubic centimeters.

Comparison of 74-MHz interplanetary scintillation and IMP 7 observations of the solar wind during 1973

Science.gov (United States)

Coles, W. A.; Harmon, J. K.; Lazarus, A. J.; Sullivan, J. D.

1978-01-01

Solar wind velocities measured by earth-orbiting spacecraft are compared with velocities determined from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations for 1973, a period when high-velocity streams were prevalent. The spacecraft and IPS velocities agree well in the mean and are highly correlated. No simple model for the distribution of enhanced turbulence within streams is sufficient to explain the velocity comparison results for the entire year. Although a simple proportionality between density fluctuation level and bulk density is consistent with IPS velocities for some periods, some streams appear to have enhanced turbulence in the high-velocity region, where the density is low.

THE NEW HORIZONS SOLAR WIND AROUND PLUTO (SWAP) OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR WIND FROM 11–33 au

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Weidner, S.; Livadiotis, G. [Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238 (United States); Nicolaou, G., E-mail: helliott@swri.edu [Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, SE-98128, Kiruna (Sweden)

2016-04-15

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on National Aeronautics and Space Administration's New Horizons Pluto mission has collected solar wind observations en route from Earth to Pluto, and these observations continue beyond Pluto. Few missions have explored the solar wind in the outer heliosphere making this dataset a critical addition to the field. We created a forward model of SWAP count rates, which includes a comprehensive instrument response function based on laboratory and flight calibrations. By fitting the count rates with this model, the proton density (n), speed (V), and temperature (T) parameters are determined. Comparisons between SWAP parameters and both propagated 1 au observations and prior Voyager 2 observations indicate consistency in both the range and mean wind values. These comparisons as well as our additional findings confirm that small and midsized solar wind structures are worn down with increasing distance due to dynamic interaction of parcels of wind with different speed. For instance, the T–V relationship steepens, as the range in V is limited more than the range in T with distance. At times the T–V correlation clearly breaks down beyond 20 au, which may indicate wind currently expanding and cooling may have an elevated T reflecting prior heating and compression in the inner heliosphere. The power of wind parameters at shorter periodicities decreases with distance as the longer periodicities strengthen. The solar rotation periodicity is present in temperature beyond 20 au indicating the observed parcel temperature may reflect not only current heating or cooling, but also heating occurring closer to the Sun.

THE NEW HORIZONS SOLAR WIND AROUND PLUTO (SWAP) OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR WIND FROM 11–33 au

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Weidner, S.; Livadiotis, G.; Nicolaou, G.

2016-01-01

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on National Aeronautics and Space Administration's New Horizons Pluto mission has collected solar wind observations en route from Earth to Pluto, and these observations continue beyond Pluto. Few missions have explored the solar wind in the outer heliosphere making this dataset a critical addition to the field. We created a forward model of SWAP count rates, which includes a comprehensive instrument response function based on laboratory and flight calibrations. By fitting the count rates with this model, the proton density (n), speed (V), and temperature (T) parameters are determined. Comparisons between SWAP parameters and both propagated 1 au observations and prior Voyager 2 observations indicate consistency in both the range and mean wind values. These comparisons as well as our additional findings confirm that small and midsized solar wind structures are worn down with increasing distance due to dynamic interaction of parcels of wind with different speed. For instance, the T–V relationship steepens, as the range in V is limited more than the range in T with distance. At times the T–V correlation clearly breaks down beyond 20 au, which may indicate wind currently expanding and cooling may have an elevated T reflecting prior heating and compression in the inner heliosphere. The power of wind parameters at shorter periodicities decreases with distance as the longer periodicities strengthen. The solar rotation periodicity is present in temperature beyond 20 au indicating the observed parcel temperature may reflect not only current heating or cooling, but also heating occurring closer to the Sun

WIND observations of coherent electrostatic waves in the solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Mangeney

1999-03-01

Full Text Available The time domain sampler (TDS experiment on WIND measures electric and magnetic wave forms with a sampling rate which reaches 120 000 points per second. We analyse here observations made in the solar wind near the Lagrange point L1. In the range of frequencies above the proton plasma frequency fpi and smaller than or of the order of the electron plasma frequency fpe, TDS observed three kinds of electrostatic (e.s. waves: coherent wave packets of Langmuir waves with frequencies f ~ fpe, coherent wave packets with frequencies in the ion acoustic range fpi < f < fpe, and more or less isolated non-sinusoidal spikes lasting less than 1 ms. We confirm that the observed frequency of the low frequency (LF ion acoustic wave packets is dominated by the Doppler effect: the wavelengths are short, 10 to 50 electron Debye lengths λD. The electric field in the isolated electrostatic structures (IES and in the LF wave packets is more or less aligned with the solar wind magnetic field. Across the IES, which have a spatial width of the order of ~ 25λD, there is a small but finite electric potential drop, implying an average electric field generally directed away from the Sun. The IES wave forms, which have not been previously reported in the solar wind, are similar, although with a smaller amplitude, to the weak double layers observed in the auroral regions, and to the electrostatic solitary waves observed in other regions in the magnetosphere. We have also studied the solar wind conditions which favour the occurrence of the three kinds of waves: all these e.s. waves are observed more or less continuously in the whole solar wind (except in the densest regions where a parasite prevents the TDS observations. The type (wave packet or IES of the observed LF waves is mainly determined by the proton temperature and by the direction of the magnetic field, which themselves depend on the latitude of WIND with respect to the heliospheric current sheet.Key words

Solar-wind minor ions: recent observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bame, S.J.

1982-01-01

During the years following the Solar Wind Four Conference at Burghausen our knowledge of the solar wind ion composition and dynamics has grown. There have been some surprises, and our understanding of the evolution of the solar wind has been improved. Systematic studies have shown that the minor ions generally travel with a common bulk speed and have temperatures roughly proportional to their masses. It has been determined that the 3 He ++ content varies greatly; 3 He ++ / 4 He ++ ranges from as high as 10 2 values to below 2 x 10 - 4 . In some solar wind flows which can be related to energetic coronal events, the minor ions are found in unusual ionization states containing Fe 16 + as a prominent ion, showing that the states were formed at unusually high temperatures. Unexpectedly, in a few flows substantial quantities of 4 He + have been detected, sometimes with ions identifiable as O 2 + and O 3 + . Surprisingly, in some of these examples the ionization state is mixed showing that part of the plasma escaped the corona without attaining the usual million-degree temperatures while other parts were heated more nearly in the normal manner. Additionally, detailed studies of the minor ions have increased our understanding of the coronal expansion. For example, such studies have contributed to identifying near equatorial coronal streamers as the source of solar wind flows between high speed streams

Solar wind ion trends and signatures: STEREO PLASTIC observations approaching solar minimum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. B. Galvin

2009-10-01

Full Text Available STEREO has now completed the first two years of its mission, moving from close proximity to Earth in 2006/2007 to more than 50 degrees longitudinal separation from Earth in 2009. During this time, several large-scale structures have been observed in situ. Given the prevailing solar minimum conditions, these structures have been predominantly coronal hole-associated solar wind, slow solar wind, their interfaces, and the occasional transient event. In this paper, we extend earlier solar wind composition studies into the current solar minimum using high-resolution (1-h sampling times for the charge state analysis. We examine 2-year trends for iron charge states and solar wind proton speeds, and present a case study of Carrington Rotation 2064 (December 2007 which includes minor ion (He, Fe, O kinetic and Fe composition parameters in comparison with proton and magnetic field signatures at large-scale structures observed during this interval.

Rosetta and Mars Express observations of the influence of high solar wind pressure on the Martian plasma environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. J. T. Edberg

2009-12-01

Full Text Available We report on new simultaneous in-situ observations at Mars from Rosetta and Mars Express (MEX on how the Martian plasma environment is affected by high pressure solar wind. A significant sharp increase in solar wind density, magnetic field strength and turbulence followed by a gradual increase in solar wind velocity is observed during ~24 h in the combined data set from both spacecraft after Rosetta's closest approach to Mars on 25 February 2007. The bow shock and magnetic pileup boundary are coincidently observed by MEX to become asymmetric in their shapes. The fortunate orbit of MEX at this time allows a study of the inbound boundary crossings on one side of the planet and the outbound crossings on almost the opposite side, both very close to the terminator plane. The solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF downstream of Mars are monitored through simultaneous measurements provided by Rosetta. Possible explanations for the asymmetries are discussed, such as crustal magnetic fields and IMF direction. In the same interval, during the high solar wind pressure pulse, MEX observations show an increased amount of escaping planetary ions from the polar region of Mars. We link the high pressure solar wind with the observed simultaneous ion outflow and discuss how the pressure pulse could also be associated with the observed boundary shape asymmetry.

Kinetic Physics of the Solar Corona and Solar Wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marsch Eckart

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Kinetic plasma physics of the solar corona and solar wind are reviewed with emphasis on the theoretical understanding of the in situ measurements of solar wind particles and waves, as well as on the remote-sensing observations of the solar corona made by means of ultraviolet spectroscopy and imaging. In order to explain coronal and interplanetary heating, the microphysics of the dissipation of various forms of mechanical, electric and magnetic energy at small scales (e.g., contained in plasma waves, turbulences or non-uniform flows must be addressed. We therefore scrutinise the basic assumptions underlying the classical transport theory and the related collisional heating rates, and also describe alternatives associated with wave-particle interactions. We elucidate the kinetic aspects of heating the solar corona and interplanetary plasma through Landau- and cyclotron-resonant damping of plasma waves, and analyse in detail wave absorption and micro instabilities. Important aspects (virtues and limitations of fluid models, either single- and multi-species or magnetohydrodynamic and multi-moment models, for coronal heating and solar wind acceleration are critically discussed. Also, kinetic model results which were recently obtained by numerically solving the Vlasov–Boltzmann equation in a coronal funnel and hole are presented. Promising areas and perspectives for future research are outlined finally.

Elemental composition and ionization state of the solar atmosphere and solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joselyn, J.A.C.

1978-01-01

Abundance measurements have always proved useful in generating and refining astrophysical theories. Some of the classical problems of astrophysics involve determining the relative abundances of elements in the atmosphere of a star from observations of its line spectrum, and then synthesizing the physical processes which would produce such abundances. Theories of the formation of the solar system are critically tested by their ability to explain observed abundances, and, elemental abundances can serve as tracers, helping to determine the origin and transport of ions. Since the solar wind originates at the sun, it can act as a diagnostic probe of solar conditions. In particular, measurements of the composition of the solar wind should be related to the solar composition. And, assuming ionization equilibrium, measurements of the relative abundances of the ionization states in the solar wind should infer coronal temperatures and temperature gradients. However, most spherically symmetric models of the solar wind are unable to explain the relationship between the composition estimated from solar observations and as measured at 1 AU; and, recent observations of significant flow speeds in the transition region raise doubts about the validity of the assumption of ionization equilibrium

Solar-wind interactions with the Moon: role of oxygen ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mukherjee, N.R.

1979-01-01

The solar-wind interacts directly with the lunar surface due to tenuous atmosphere and magnetic field. The interaction results in an almost complete absorption of the solar-wind corpuscles producing no upstream bowshock but a cavity downstream. The solar-wind oxygen ionic species induce and undergo a complex set of reactions with the elements of the lunar minerals and the solar-wind derived trapped gases. In this paper, the long-term concentration and the role of oxygen derived from the solar-wind is discussed. (Auth.)

Coupled Solar Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System by QFT

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shao-Guang

shoot to Sun from the center of Galaxy. The dynamic balance of forces on the solar surface plasma at once is broken and the plasma will upwards eject as the solar wind with redundant negative charge, at the same time, the solar surface remain a cavity as a sunspot whorl with the positive electric potential relative to around. The whorl caused by that the reaction of plasma eject front and upwards with the different velocity at different latitude of solar rotation, leads to the cavity around in the downwards and backwards helix movement. The solar rotation more slow, when the cavity is filled by around plasma in the reverse turn direction, the Jupiter at front had been produced a new cavity, so that we had observe the sunspot pair with different whorl directions and different magnetic polarity. Jupiter possess half mass of all planets in solar system, its action to stop net nuν _{0} flux is primary, so that Jupiter’s period of 11.8 sidereal years accord basically with the period of sunspot eruptions. The solar wind is essentially the plasma with additional electrons flux ejected from the solar surface: its additional electrons come from the ionosphere again eject into the ionosphere and leads to the direct connect between the solar wind and the ionosphere; its magnetism from its redundant negative charge and leads to the connect between the solar wind and the magnetosphere; it possess the high temperature of the solar surface and ejecting kinetic energy leads to the thermo-exchange connect between the solar wind and the thermosphere. Through the solar wind ejecting into and cross over the outside atmosphere carry out the electromagnetic, particles material and thermal exchanges, the Coupled Solar Wind-Magnetosphere-Ionosphere-Thermosphere System to be came into being. This conclusion is inferred only by QFT.

Ion acoustic waves in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurnett, D.A.; Frank, L.A.

1978-01-01

Plasma wave measurements on the Helios I and 2 spacecraft have revealed the occurrence of electric field turbulence in the solar wind at frequencies between the electron and ion plasma frequencies. Wavelength measurements with the Imp 6 spacecraft now provide strong evidence that these waves are short-wavelength ion acoustic waves which are Doppler-shifted upward in frequency by the motion of the solar wind. Comparison of the Helios results with measurements from the earth-orbiting Imp 6 and 8 spacecraft shows that the ion acoustic turbulence detected in interplanetary space has characteristics essentially identical to those of bursts of electrostatic turbulence generated by protons streaming into the solar wind from the earth's bow shock. In a few cases, enhanced ion acoustic wave intensities have been observed in direct association with abrupt increases in the anisotropy of the solar wind electron distribution. This relationship strongly suggests that the ion acoustic waves detected by Helios far from the earth are produced by an electron heat flux instability, as was suggested by Forslund. Possible related mechanisms which could explain the generation of ion acoustic waves by protons streaming into the solar wind from the earth's bow shock are also considered

Interaction of the plasma tail of comet Bradfield 1979L on 1980 February 6 with a possibly flare-generated solar-wind disturbance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niedner, M.B. Jr.; Brandt, J.C.; Zwickl, R.D.; Bame, S.J.

1982-01-01

Solar-wind plasma data from the ISEE-3 and Helios 2 spacecraft have been examined in order to explain a uniquely rapid 10 0 turning of the plasma tail of comet Bradfield 1979L on 1980 February 6. An earlier study conducted before the availability of in situ solar-wind data (Brandt et al., 1980) suggested that the tail position angle change occurred in response to a solar-wind velocity shear across which the polar component changed by approx. 50 km s - 1 . The present contribution confirms this result and further suggests that the comet-tail activity was caused by non-corotating, disturbed plasma flows probably associated with an Importance 1B solar flare

Design of a wind turbine-generator system considering the conformability to wind velocity fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wakui, Tetsuya; Hashizume, Takumi; Outa, Eisuke

1999-07-01

The conformability of the rated power output of the wind turbine-generator system and of the wind turbine type to wind velocity fluctuations are investigated with a simulation model. The authors examine three types of wind turbines: the Darrieus-Savonius hybrid, the Darrieus proper and the Propeller. These systems are mainly operated at a constant tip speed ratio, which refers to a maximum power coefficient points. As a computed result of the net extracting power, the Darrieus turbine proper has little conformability to wind velocity fluctuations because of its output characteristics. As for the other turbines, large-scale systems do not always have an advantage over small-scale systems as the effect of its dynamic characteristics. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the net extracting power of the Propeller turbine, under wind direction fluctuation, is much reduced when compared with the hybrid wind turbine. Thus, the authors conclude that the appropriate rated power output of the system exists with relation to the wind turbine type for each wind condition.

Ten years statistics of wind direction and wind velocity measurements performed at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becker, M.; Dilger, H.

1979-06-01

The measurements of wind direction and wind velocity performed at 60 m and 200 m height were evaluated for one year each and frequency distributions of the measured values were established. The velocity was divided into 1 m/s steps and the direction into 10 0 sectors. The frequency distribution of the wind direction reveals three maxima located in the southwest, northeast and north, respectively. The maximum of the frequency distribution of the wind velocity occurs between 4 and 5 m/s at 200 m height and between 3 and 4 m/s at 60 m height. (orig.) [de

Solar wind temperature observations in the outer heliosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Gazis, P. R.; Barnes, A.; Mihalov, J. D.; Lazarus, A. J.

1992-01-01

The Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, and Voyager 2 spacecraft are now at heliocentric distances of 50, 32 and 33 AU, and heliographic latitudes of 3.5 deg N, 17 deg N, and 0 deg N, respectively. Pioneer 11 and Voyager 2 are at similar celestial longitudes, while Pioneer l0 is on the opposite side of the sun. The baselines defined by these spacecraft make it possible to resolve radial, longitudinal, and latitudinal variations of solar wind parameters. The solar wind temperature decreases with increasing heliocentric distance out to a distance of 10-15 AU. At larger heliocentric distances, this gradient disappears. These high solar wind temperatures in the outer heliosphere have persisted for at least 10 years, which suggests that they are not a solar cycle effect. The solar wind temperature varied with heliographic latitude during the most recent solar minimum. The solar wind temperature at Pioneer 11 and Voyager 2 was higher than that seen at Pioneer 10 for an extended period of time, which suggests the existence of a large-scale variation of temperature with celestial longitude, but the contribution of transient phenomena is yet to be clarified.

Local Equation of State for Protons, and Implications for Proton Heating in the Solar Wind.

Science.gov (United States)

Zaslavsky, A.; Maksimovic, M.; Kasper, J. C.

2017-12-01

The solar wind protons temperature is observed to decrease with distance to the Sun at a slower rate than expected from an adiabatic expansion law: the protons are therefore said to be heated. This observation raises the question of the evaluation of the heating rate, and the question of the heat source.These questions have been investigated by previous authors by gathering proton data on various distances to the Sun, using spacecraft as Helios or Ulysses, and then computing the radial derivative of the proton temperature in order to obtain a heating rate from the internal energy equation. The problem of such an approach is the computation of the radial derivative of the temperature profile, for which uncertainties are very large, given the dispersion of the temperatures measured at a given distance.An alternative approach, that we develop in this paper, consists in looking for an equation of state that links locally the pressure (or temperature) to the mass density. If such a relation exists then one can evaluate the proton heating rate on a local basis, without having any space derivative to compute.Here we use several years of STEREO and WIND proton data to search for polytropic equation of state. We show that such relationships are indeed a good approximation in given solar wind's velocity intervals and deduce the associated protons heating rates as a function of solar wind's speed. The obtained heating rates are shown to scale from around 1 kW/kg in the slow wind to around 10 kW/kg in the fast wind, in remarkable agreement with the rate of energy observed by previous authors to cascade in solar wind's MHD turbulence at 1 AU. These results therefore support the idea of proton turbulent heating in the solar wind.

The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lew, Debra [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Brinkman, Greg [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ibanez, E. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Florita, A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Heaney, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hodge, B. -M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Hummon, M. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Stark, G. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); King, J. [RePPAE; Lefton, S. A. [Intertek-APTECH, Houston, TX (United States); Kumar, N. [Intertek-APTECH, Houston, TX (United States); Agan, D. [Intertek-APTECH, Houston, TX (United States); Jordan, G. [GE Energy, Fairfield, CT (United States); Venkataraman, S. [GE Energy, Fairfield, CT (United States)

2013-09-01

The electric grid is a highly complex, interconnected machine, and changing one part of the grid can have consequences elsewhere. Adding wind and solar affects the operation of the other power plants and adding high penetrations can induce cycling of fossil-fueled generators. Cycling leads to wear-and-tear costs and changes in emissions. Phase 2 of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS-2) evaluated these costs and emissions and simulated grid operations for a year to investigate the detailed impact of wind and solar on the fossil-fueled fleet. This built on Phase 1, one of the largest wind and solar integration studies ever conducted, which examined operational impacts of high wind and solar penetrations in the West(GE Energy 2010).

The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lew, D.; Brinkman, G.; Ibanez, E.; Hodge, B. M.; Hummon, M.; Florita, A.; Heaney, M.

2013-09-01

The electric grid is a highly complex, interconnected machine, and changing one part of the grid can have consequences elsewhere. Adding wind and solar affects the operation of the other power plants and adding high penetrations can induce cycling of fossil-fueled generators. Cycling leads to wear-and-tear costs and changes in emissions. Phase 2 of the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS-2) evaluated these costs and emissions and simulated grid operations for a year to investigate the detailed impact of wind and solar on the fossil-fueled fleet. This built on Phase 1, one of the largest wind and solar integration studies ever conducted, which examined operational impacts of high wind and solar penetrations in the West.

Transient behavior of a flare-associated solar wind. I - Gas dynamics in a radial open field region

Science.gov (United States)

Nagai, F.

1984-01-01

A numerical investigation is conducted into the way in which a solar wind model initially satisfying both steady state and energy balance conditions is disturbed and deformed, under the assumption of heating that correspoonds to the energy release of solar flares of an importance value of approximately 1 which occur in radial open field regions. Flare-associated solar wind transient behavior is modeled for 1-8 solar radii. The coronal temperature around the heat source region rises, and a large thermal conductive flux flows inward to the chromosphere and outward to interplanetary space along field lines. The speed of the front of expanding chromospheric material generated by the impingement of the conduction front on the upper chromosphere exceeds the local sound velocity in a few minutes and eventually exceeds 100 million cm/sec.

WIND observations of coherent electrostatic waves in the solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Mangeney

Full Text Available The time domain sampler (TDS experiment on WIND measures electric and magnetic wave forms with a sampling rate which reaches 120 000 points per second. We analyse here observations made in the solar wind near the Lagrange point L1. In the range of frequencies above the proton plasma frequency f_pi and smaller than or of the order of the electron plasma frequency f_pe, TDS observed three kinds of electrostatic (e.s. waves: coherent wave packets of Langmuir waves with frequencies f ~ f_pe, coherent wave packets with frequencies in the ion acoustic range f_pi < f < f_pe, and more or less isolated non-sinusoidal spikes lasting less than 1 ms. We confirm that the observed frequency of the low frequency (LF ion acoustic wave packets is dominated by the Doppler effect: the wavelengths are short, 10 to 50 electron Debye lengths λ_D. The electric field in the isolated electrostatic structures (IES and in the LF wave packets is more or less aligned with the solar wind magnetic field. Across the IES, which have a spatial width of the order of ~ 25λ_D, there is a small but finite electric potential drop, implying an average electric field generally directed away from the Sun. The IES wave forms, which have not been previously reported in the solar wind, are similar, although with a smaller amplitude, to the weak double layers observed in the auroral regions, and to the electrostatic solitary waves observed in other regions in the magnetosphere. We have also studied the solar wind conditions which favour the occurrence of the three kinds of waves: all these e.s. waves are observed more or less continuously in the whole solar wind (except in the densest regions where a parasite prevents the TDS observations. The type (wave packet or IES of the observed LF waves is mainly determined

The Effect of Wind Velocity on the Cooling Rate of Water

OpenAIRE

Shrey Aryan

2016-01-01

The effect of wind velocity on the cooling rate of water was investigated by blowing air horizontally over the surface of water contained in a plastic water-bottle cap. The time taken for the temperature to fall to the average of the surrounding and initial temperatures was recorded at different values of wind velocity. It was observed that on increasing the wind velocity, the time taken to achieve average temperature not only decreased but also remained the same after a certain point.

Intermittent heating of the corona as an alternative to generate fast solar wind flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grappin, R.; Mangeney, A.; Schwartz, S.J.; Feldman, W.C.

1999-01-01

We discuss a new alternative to the generation of fast streams which does not require momentum addition beyond the critical point. We consider the consequences on the solar wind of temporally intermittent heat depositions at the base of the wind. With the help of 1d hydrodynamic simulations we show that the instantaneous wind velocity profile fluctuates around an average profile well above the one corresponding to the Parker solution with a coronal temperature equal to the average coronal temperature imposed at the bottom of the numerical domain. The origin of this result lies in a previously overlooked phenomenon, the overexpansion of hot plasma regions in the subsonic wind. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics

CONDITIONED ANALYSIS OF HIGH-LATITUDE SOLAR WIND INTERMITTENCY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'Amicis, R.; Consolini, G.; Bavassano, B.; Bruno, R.

2012-01-01

The solar wind is a turbulent medium displaying intermittency. Its intermittent features have been widely documented and studied, showing how the intermittent character is different in fast and slow wind. In this paper, a statistical conditioned analysis of the solar wind intermittency for a period of high-latitude fast solar wind is presented. In particular, the intermittent features are investigated as a function of the Alfvénic degree of fluctuations at a given scale. The results show that the main contribution to solar wind intermittency is due to non-Alfvénic structures, while Alfvénic increments are found to be characterized by a smaller level of intermittency than the previous ones. Furthermore, the lifetime statistics of Alfvénic periods are discussed in terms of a multiscale texture of randomly oriented flux tubes.

Alfvénic fluctuations in "newborn"' polar solar wind

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Bavassano

2005-06-01

Full Text Available The 3-D structure of the solar wind is strongly dependent upon the Sun's activity cycle. At low solar activity a bimodal structure is dominant, with a fast and uniform flow at the high latitudes, and slow and variable flows at low latitudes. Around solar maximum, in sharp contrast, variable flows are observed at all latitudes. This last kind of pattern, however, is a relatively short-lived feature, and quite soon after solar maximum the polar wind tends to regain its role. The plasma parameter distributions for these newborn polar flows appear very similar to those typically observed in polar wind at low solar activity. The point addressed here is about polar wind fluctuations. As is well known, the low-solar-activity polar wind is characterized by a strong flow of Alfvénic fluctuations. Does this hold for the new polar flows too? An answer to this question is given here through a comparative statistical analysis on parameters such as total energy, cross helicity, and residual energy, that are of general use to describe the Alfvénic character of fluctuations. Our results indicate that the main features of the Alfvénic fluctuations observed in low-solar-activity polar wind have been quickly recovered in the new polar flows developed shortly after solar maximum. Keywords. Interplanetary physics (MHD waves and turbulence; Sources of the solar wind – Space plasma physics (Turbulence

Evaporation of Arabian light crude oil spilled on sea and on beach sands : influence of solar radiation and wind velocity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergueiro, J.R.; Marti, A.; Fuertes, A.; Moreno, S.; Guijarro, S.

1998-01-01

The evaporation of crude oil resulting from a spill on sea water was studied to develop a simulation model. Evaporation takes place within a complex process of mass and energy transfer. The effects of physical and chemical variables (such as wind velocity and direct and diffused solar radiation) and the environmental conditions of the spillage were also considered. Arabian crude oil was used in the simulation model for crude oil spillage on sea water. An equation for the evaporation process was used to correlate the evaporated fraction of oil as a function of time. The area of spreading was determined as a function of the dominant stage at each moment of spreading. The evaporation of spilled crude oil on beach sand consisting of three different particle sizes was also studied and used for a simulation model for crude oil spillage on a polluted beach. 7 refs., 6 tabs., 10 figs

Suprathermal protons in the interplanetary solar wind

Science.gov (United States)

Goodrich, C. C.; Lazarus, A. J.

1976-01-01

Using the Mariner 5 solar wind plasma and magnetic field data, we present observations of field-aligned suprathermal proton velocity distributions having pronounced high-energy shoulders. These observations, similar to the interpenetrating stream observations of Feldman et al. (1974), are clear evidence that such proton distributions are interplanetary rather than bow shock associated phenomena. Large Alfven speed is found to be a requirement for the occurrence of suprathermal proton distribution; further, we find the proportion of particles in the shoulder to be limited by the magnitude of the Alfven speed. It is suggested that this last result could indicate that the proton thermal anisotropy is limited at times by wave-particle interactions

Solar wind energy transfer through the magnetopause of an open magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, L.C.; Roederer, J.G.

1982-01-01

An expression for the total power P/sub T/ transferred from the solar wind to an ''open'' magnetopause with a nonzero normal component of the magnetic field, which is identified as a rotational discontinuity. The total power P/sub T/ consists of (1) the power P/sub EM/ representing the electromagnetic energy transfer and (2) the power P/sub KE/ representing the rate of kinetic energy carried by particles penetrating into the magnetosphere. It is found that P/sub EM/approx. =V/sub SW/ B/sub SW/psi, P/sub KE/approx. =(1/2 M/sub A/-1) P/sub EM/ and P/sub T/approx. =1/2M/sub A/P/sub EM/, where V/sub SW/, B/sub SW/, and M/sub A/ are the velocity, magnetic field, and the Alfven--Mach number in the solar wind, respectively, and Psi is the open magnetic flux in the magnetosphere. The Alfven--Mach number of flow at the magnetopause determines the nature of the local energy transfer; the power per unit area transferred from the solar wind to the magnetosphere consists mainly of kinetic energy. The electromagnetic energy rate P/sub EM/ controls the near-earth magnetospheric activity, whereas the kinetic energy rate P/sub KE/(approx. =3--4 P/sub EM/) should dominate the dynamics of the distant magnetotail

THREE-DIMENSIONAL EVOLUTION OF SOLAR WIND DURING SOLAR CYCLES 22–24

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manoharan, P. K.

2012-01-01

This paper presents an analysis of three-dimensional evolution of solar wind density turbulence and speed at various levels of solar activity between solar cycles 22 and 24. The solar wind data used in this study have been obtained from the interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements made at the Ooty Radio Telescope, operating at 327 MHz. Results show that (1) on average, there was a downward trend in density turbulence from the maximum of cycle 22 to the deep minimum phase of cycle 23; (2) the scattering diameter of the corona around the Sun shrunk steadily toward the Sun, starting from 2003 to the smallest size at the deepest minimum, and it corresponded to a reduction of ∼50% in the density turbulence between the maximum and minimum phases of cycle 23; (3) the latitudinal distribution of the solar wind speed was significantly different between the minima of cycles 22 and 23. At the minimum phase of solar cycle 22, when the underlying solar magnetic field was simple and nearly dipole in nature, the high-speed streams were observed from the poles to ∼30° latitudes in both hemispheres. In contrast, in the long-decay phase of cycle 23, the sources of the high-speed wind at both poles, in accordance with the weak polar fields, occupied narrow latitude belts from poles to ∼60° latitudes. Moreover, in agreement with the large amplitude of the heliospheric current sheet, the low-speed wind prevailed in the low- and mid-latitude regions of the heliosphere. (4) At the transition phase between cycles 23 and 24, the high levels of density and density turbulence were observed close to the heliospheric equator and the low-speed solar wind extended from the equatorial-to-mid-latitude regions. The above results in comparison with Ulysses and other in situ measurements suggest that the source of the solar wind has changed globally, with the important implication that the supply of mass and energy from the Sun to the interplanetary space has been significantly reduced

Wave-trains in the solar wind. III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richter, A.K.

1975-01-01

Applying an Alfven-Wave-Extended-QRH-approximation and the method of characteristics, the equations of motion for outwardly propagating Alfven waves are solved analytically for three different cases of an azimuthal dependence of the background solar wind, (a) for a pure fast-slow stream configuration, (b) for the situation where the high-speed stream originates from a diverging magnetic field, and (c) for the case of (b) and an initially decreasing density configuration ('coronal hole'). The reaction of these waves on the background state as well as mode-mode coupling effects are neglected. These three solar wind models are discussed shortly. For the superimposed Alfven waves it is found, on an average, that there is a strong azimuthal dependence of all relevant parameters which, correlated with the azimuthal distributions of the solar wind variables, leads to good agreements with observations. The signature of high-speed streams and these correlations could clearly indicate solar wind streams originating from 'coronal holes'. Contrary to the purely radial solar wind, where outwardly propagating Alfven waves are exclusively refracted towards the radial direction, a refraction nearly perpendicular to the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field in the compression region and closely towards the magnetic field direction down the trailing edge and in the low-speed regime is found. (Auth.)

Parameters determining maximum wind velocity in a tropical cyclone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choudhury, A.M.

1984-09-01

The spiral structure of a tropical cyclone was earlier explained by a tangential velocity distribution which varies inversely as the distance from the cyclone centre outside the circle of maximum wind speed. The case has been extended in the present paper by adding a radial velocity. It has been found that a suitable combination of radial and tangential velocities can account for the spiral structure of a cyclone. This enables parametrization of the cyclone. Finally a formula has been derived relating maximum velocity in a tropical cyclone with angular momentum, radius of maximum wind speed and the spiral angle. The shapes of the spirals have been computed for various spiral angles. (author)

The Effect of Wind Velocity on the Cooling Rate of Water

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shrey Aryan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The effect of wind velocity on the cooling rate of water was investigated by blowing air horizontally over the surface of water contained in a plastic water-bottle cap. The time taken for the temperature to fall to the average of the surrounding and initial temperatures was recorded at different values of wind velocity. It was observed that on increasing the wind velocity, the time taken to achieve average temperature not only decreased but also remained the same after a certain point.

Genesis Solar Wind Science Canister Components Curated as Potential Solar Wind Collectors and Reference Contamination Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Allton, J. H.; Gonzalez, C. P.; Allums, K. K.

2016-01-01

The Genesis mission collected solar wind for 27 months at Earth-Sun L1 on both passive and active collectors carried inside of a Science Canister, which was cleaned and assembled in an ISO Class 4 cleanroom prior to launch. The primary passive collectors, 271 individual hexagons and 30 half-hexagons of semiconductor materials, are described in. Since the hard landing reduced the 301 passive collectors to many thousand smaller fragments, characterization and posting in the online catalog remains a work in progress, with about 19% of the total area characterized to date. Other passive collectors, surfaces of opportunity, have been added to the online catalog. For species needing to be concentrated for precise measurement (e.g. oxygen and nitrogen isotopes) an energy-independent parabolic ion mirror focused ions onto a 6.2 cm diameter target. The target materials, as recovered after landing, are described in. The online catalog of these solar wind collectors, a work in progress, can be found at: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/gencatalog/index.cfm This paper describes the next step, the cataloging of pieces of the Science Canister, which were surfaces exposed to the solar wind or component materials adjacent to solar wind collectors which may have contributed contamination.

The Electron Temperature and Anisotropy in the Solar Wind. Comparison of the Core and Halo Populations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Pierrard, V.; Lazar, M.; Poedts, S.; Štverák, Štěpán; Maksimovic, M.; Trávníček, Pavel M.

2016-01-01

Roč. 291, č. 7 (2016), s. 2165-2179 ISSN 0038-0938 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-17490S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : solar wind * electron velocity distributions * temperature anisotropy Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 2.682, year: 2016

UPDATED ANALYSIS OF THE UPWIND INTERPLANETARY HYDROGEN VELOCITY AS OBSERVED BY THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DURING SOLAR CYCLE 23

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vincent, Frederic E.; Ben-Jaffel, Lotfi; Harris, Walter M.

2011-01-01

The interplanetary hydrogen (IPH), a population of neutrals that fill the space between planets inside the heliosphere, carries the signature of the interstellar medium (ISM) and the heliospheric interface. As the incoming ISM-ionized component deflects at the heliopause, charge exchange reactions decelerate the bulk motion of the neutrals that penetrate the heliosphere. Inside the heliosphere, the IPH bulk velocity is further affected by solar gravity, radiation pressure, and ionization processes, with the latter two processes dependent on solar activity. Solar cycle 23 provided the first partial temporal map of the IPH velocity, including measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectrometers (Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)) and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) instrument. We present an updated analysis of IPH velocity measurements from GHRS and STIS and compare these results with those of SWAN and two different time-dependent models. Our reanalysis of STIS data reveals a significant change in IPH velocity relative to earlier reports, because of the contamination by geocoronal oxygen that was not accounted for. While current models of the heliospheric interface predict the observed IPH velocity for solar maximum, they are not consistent with data covering solar minimum. With updates to the HST data points, we now find that all data can be fit by the existing models to within 1σ, with the exception of SWAN observations taken at solar minimum (1997/1998). We conclude that the current data lack the temporal coverage and/or precision necessary to determine the detailed characteristics of the solar cycle dependence. Hence, new observations are merited.

ALADIN: an atmospheric laser Doppler wind lidar instrument for wind velocity measurements from space

Science.gov (United States)

Krawczyk, R.; Ghibaudo, JB.; Labandibar, JY.; Willetts, D.; Vaughan, M.; Pearson, G.; Harris, M.; Flamant, P. H.; Salamitou, P.; Dabas, A.; Charasse, R.; Midavaine, T.; Royer, M.; Heimel, H.

2018-04-01

This paper, "ALADIN: an atmospheric laser Doppler wind lidar instrument for wind velocity measurements from space," was presented as part of International Conference on Space Optics—ICSO 1997, held in Toulouse, France.

Resonant acceleration of alpha particles by ion cyclotron waves in the solar wind

Science.gov (United States)

Gomberoff, L.; Elgueta, R.

1991-06-01

Preferential acceleration of alpha particles interacting with left-hand polarized ion cyclotron waves is studied. It is shown that a small positive drift velocity between alpha particles and protons can lead to alpha particle velocities well in excess of the proton bulk velocity. During the acceleration process, which is assumed to take place at heliocentric distances less than 0.3 AU, the alpha particle drift velocity should exceed the proton bulk velocity, and then the gap which exists around the alpha particle gyrofrequency should disappear. It is also shown that for proton thermal anisotropies of the order of those observed in fast solar wind, the waves either grow or are not damped excessively, so that the waves can exist and might thus lead to the observed differential speeds. However, the way in which the alpha particles exceed the proton velocity remains unexplained.

Evolution of turbulence in the expanding solar wind, a numerical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong, Yue; Grappin, Roland; Verdini, Andrea

2014-01-01

We study the evolution of turbulence in the solar wind by solving numerically the full three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations embedded in a radial mean wind. The corresponding equations (expanding box model or EBM) have been considered earlier but never integrated in 3D simulations. Here, we follow the development of turbulence from 0.2 AU up to about 1.5 AU. Starting with isotropic spectra scaling as k –1 , we observe a steepening toward a k –5/3 scaling in the middle of the wave number range and formation of spectral anisotropies. The advection of a plasma volume by the expanding solar wind causes a non-trivial stretching of the volume in directions transverse to radial and the selective decay of the components of velocity and magnetic fluctuations. These two effects combine to yield the following results. (1) Spectral anisotropy: gyrotropy is broken, and the radial wave vectors have most of the power. (2) Coherent structures: radial streams emerge that resemble the observed microjets. (3) Energy spectra per component: they show an ordering in good agreement with the one observed in the solar wind at 1 AU. The latter point includes a global dominance of the magnetic energy over kinetic energy in the inertial and f –1 range and a dominance of the perpendicular-to-the-radial components over the radial components in the inertial range. We conclude that many of the above properties are the result of evolution during transport in the heliosphere, and not just the remnant of the initial turbulence close to the Sun.

A parabolic velocity-decomposition method for wind turbines

Science.gov (United States)

Mittal, Anshul; Briley, W. Roger; Sreenivas, Kidambi; Taylor, Lafayette K.

2017-02-01

An economical parabolized Navier-Stokes approximation for steady incompressible flow is combined with a compatible wind turbine model to simulate wind turbine flows, both upstream of the turbine and in downstream wake regions. The inviscid parabolizing approximation is based on a Helmholtz decomposition of the secondary velocity vector and physical order-of-magnitude estimates, rather than an axial pressure gradient approximation. The wind turbine is modeled by distributed source-term forces incorporating time-averaged aerodynamic forces generated by a blade-element momentum turbine model. A solution algorithm is given whose dependent variables are streamwise velocity, streamwise vorticity, and pressure, with secondary velocity determined by two-dimensional scalar and vector potentials. In addition to laminar and turbulent boundary-layer test cases, solutions for a streamwise vortex-convection test problem are assessed by mesh refinement and comparison with Navier-Stokes solutions using the same grid. Computed results for a single turbine and a three-turbine array are presented using the NREL offshore 5-MW baseline wind turbine. These are also compared with an unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solution computed with full rotor resolution. On balance, the agreement in turbine wake predictions for these test cases is very encouraging given the substantial differences in physical modeling fidelity and computer resources required.

Hall-magnetohydrodynamic waves in flowing ideal incompressible solar-wind plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhelyazkov, I

2010-01-01

It is well established now that the solar atmosphere, from the photosphere to the corona and the solar wind, is a highly structured medium. Satellite observations have confirmed the presence of steady flows there. Here, we investigate the propagation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) eigenmodes (kink and sausage surface waves) travelling along an ideal incompressible flowing plasma cylinder (flux tube) surrounded by a flowing plasma environment in the framework of the Hall magnetohydrodynamics. The propagation characteristics of the waves are studied in a reference frame moving with the mass flow outside the tube. In general, the flows change the waves' phase velocities compared with their magnitudes in a static MHD flux tube and the Hall effect extends the number of the possible wave dispersion curves. It turns out that while the kink waves, considered in the context of the standard magnetohydrodynamics, are unstable against the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, they become stable when the Hall term in the generalized Ohm's law is taken into account. The sausage waves are stable in both considerations. All results concerning the waves' propagation and their stability/instability status are obtained on the basis of the linearized Hall-magnetohydrodynamic equations and are applicable mainly to the solar wind plasmas.

Wind and solar energy incentives in Iran

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taleghani, G.; Kazemi Karegar, H.

2006-01-01

Incentive have yet been viewed as a means of supporting technological developments until a new technology becomes cost competitive wind based electricity is not jet generally competitive with alternate sources of electricity such as fossil fuels. This paper presents the potential for wind and solar in Iran and shows how much electric energy is now produced by renewable power plants compared to steam and gas. The importance of renewable energy effects on Iran environment and economy is also discussed and the issue of the contribution of renewable energy for producing electricity in the future will be shown. Also this paper highlights the ability of Iran to manufacture the components of the wind turbine and solar system locally, and its effect on the price of wind turbine and solar energy

Clouds blown by the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voiculescu, M; Condurache-Bota, S; Usoskin, I

2013-01-01

In this letter we investigate possible relationships between the cloud cover (CC) and the interplanetary electric field (IEF), which is modulated by the solar wind speed and the interplanetary magnetic field. We show that CC at mid–high latitudes systematically correlates with positive IEF, which has a clear energetic input into the atmosphere, but not with negative IEF, in general agreement with predictions of the global electric circuit (GEC)-related mechanism. Thus, our results suggest that mid–high latitude clouds might be affected by the solar wind via the GEC. Since IEF responds differently to solar activity than, for instance, cosmic ray flux or solar irradiance, we also show that such a study allows distinguishing one solar-driven mechanism of cloud evolution, via the GEC, from others. (letter)

Dynamics of the Solar Wind Electromagnetic Energy Transmission Into Magnetosphere during Large Geomagnetic Storms

Science.gov (United States)

Kuznetsova, Tamara; Laptukhov, Alexej; Petrov, Valery

Causes of the geomagnetic activity (GA) in the report are divided into temporal changes of the solar wind parameters and the changes of the geomagnetic moment orientation relative directions of the solar wind electric and magnetic fields. Based on our previous study we concluded that a reconnection based on determining role of mutual orientation of the solar wind electric field and geomagnetic moment taking into account effects of the Earth's orbital and daily motions is the most effective compared with existing mechanisms. At present a reconnection as paradigma that has applications in broad fields of physics needs analysis of experimental facts to be developed. In terms of reconnection it is important not only mutual orientation of vectors describing physics of interaction region but and reconnection rate which depends from rate of energy flux to those regions where the reconnection is permitted. Applied to magnetosphere these regions first of all are dayside magnetopause and polar caps. Influence of rate of the energy flux to the lobe magnetopause (based on calculations of the Poyting electromagnetic flux component controlling the reconnection rate along the solar wind velocity Pv) on planetary GA (Dst, Kp indices) is investigated at different phases of geomagnetic storms. We study also the rate of energy flux to the polar caps during storms (based on calculations of the Poyting flux vector component along the geomagnetic moment Pm) and its influence on magnetic activity in the polar ionosphere: at the auroral zone (AU,AL indices). Results allow to evaluate contributions of high and low latitude sources of electromagnetic energy to the storm development and also to clear mechanism of the electromagnetic energy transmission from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. We evaluate too power of the solar wind electromagnetic energy during well-known large storms and compare result with power of the energy sources of other geophysical processes (atmosphere, ocean

Different magnetospheric modes: solar wind driving and coupling efficiency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Partamies

2009-11-01

Full Text Available This study describes a systematic statistical comparison of isolated non-storm substorms, steady magnetospheric convection (SMC intervals and sawtooth events. The number of events is approximately the same in each group and the data are taken from about the same years to avoid biasing by different solar cycle phase. The very same superposed epoch analysis is performed for each event group to show the characteristics of ground-based indices (AL, PCN, PC potential, particle injection at the geostationary orbit and the solar wind and IMF parameters. We show that the monthly occurrence of sawtooth events and isolated non-stormtime substorms closely follows maxima of the geomagnetic activity at (or close to the equinoxes. The most strongly solar wind driven event type, sawtooth events, is the least efficient in coupling the solar wind energy to the auroral ionosphere, while SMC periods are associated with the highest coupling ratio (AL/EY. Furthermore, solar wind speed seems to play a key role in determining the type of activity in the magnetosphere. Slow solar wind is capable of maintaining steady convection. During fast solar wind streams the magnetosphere responds with loading–unloading cycles, represented by substorms during moderately active conditions and sawtooth events (or other storm-time activations during geomagnetically active conditions.

Intermittency Statistics in the Expanding Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Cuesta, M. E.; Parashar, T. N.; Matthaeus, W. H.

2017-12-01

The solar wind is observed to be turbulent. One of the open questions in solar wind research is how the turbulence evolves as the solar wind expands to great distances. Some studies have focused on evolution of the outer scale but not much has been done to understand how intermittency evolves in the expanding wind beyond 1 AU (see [1,2]). We use magnetic field data from Voyager I spacecraft from 1 to 10AU to study the evolution of statistics of magnetic discontinuities. We perform various statistical tests on these discontinuities and make connections to the physical processes occurring in the expanding wind.[1] Tsurutani, Bruce T., and Edward J. Smith. "Interplanetary discontinuities: Temporal variations and the radial gradient from 1 to 8.5 AU." Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 84.A6 (1979): 2773-2787.[2] Greco, A., et al. "Evidence for nonlinear development of magnetohydrodynamic scale intermittency in the inner heliosphere." The Astrophysical Journal 749.2 (2012): 105.

Interplanetary ions during an energetic storm particle event: The distribution function from solar wind thermal energies to 1.6 MeV

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosling, J.T.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.; Feldman, W.C.; Zwickl, R.D.; Paschmann, G.; Sckopke, N.; Hynds, R.J.

1981-01-01

Data from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory/Max-Planck-Institut fast plasma experiment on Isee 2 have been combined with data from the European Space Agency/Imperial College/Space Research Laboratory low-energy proton experiment on Isee 3 to obtain for the first time an ion velocity distribution function f(v) extending from solar wind energies (-1 keV) to 1.6 MeV during the postshock phase of an energetic storm particle (ESP) event. This study reveals that f(v) of the ESP population is roughly isotropic in the solar wind frame from solar wind thermal energies out to 1.6 MeV. Emerging smoothly out of the solar wind thermal distribution, the ESP f(v) initially falls with increasing energy as E/sup -2.4/ in the solar wind frame. Above about 40 keV no single power law exponent adequately describes the energy dependence of f(v) in the solar wind frame. Above approx.200 keV in both the spacecraft frame and the solar wind frame, f(v) can be described by an exponential in speed (f(v)proportionale/sup -v/v//sub o/) with v/sub o/ = 1.05 x 10 8 cm s -1 . The ESP event studied (August 27, 1978) was superposed upon a more energetic particle event which was predominantly field-aligned and which was probably of solar origin. Our observations suggest that the ESP population is accelerated directly out of the solar wind thermal population or its quiescent suprathermal tail by a stochastic process associated with the shock wave disturbance. The acceleration mechanism is sufficiently efficient that approx.1% of the solar wind population is accelerated to suprathermal energies. These suprathermal particles have an energy density of approx.290 eV cm -3

Effect of Wind Flow on Convective Heat Losses from Scheffler Solar Concentrator Receivers

Science.gov (United States)

Nene, Anita Arvind; Ramachandran, S.; Suyambazhahan, S.

2018-05-01

Receiver is an important element of solar concentrator system. In a Scheffler concentrator, solar rays get concentrated at focus of parabolic dish. While radiation losses are more predictable and calculable since strongly related to receiver temperature, convective looses are difficult to estimate in view of additional factors such as wind flow direction, speed, receiver geometry, prior to current work. Experimental investigation was carried out on two geometries of receiver namely cylindrical and conical with 2.7 m2 Scheffler to find optimum condition of tilt to provide best efficiency. Experimental results showed that as compared to cylindrical receiver, conical receiver gave maximum efficiency at 45° tilt angle. However effect of additional factors like wind speed, wind direction on especially convective losses could not be separately seen. The current work was undertaken to investigate further the same two geometries using computation fluid dynamics using FLUENT to compute convective losses considering all variables such at tilt angle of receiver, wind velocity and wind direction. For cylindrical receiver, directional heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is remarkably high to tilt condition meaning this geometry is critical to tilt leading to higher convective heat losses. For conical receiver, directional average HTC is remarkably less to tilt condition leading to lower convective heat loss.

DISSIPATION OF PARALLEL AND OBLIQUE ALFVÉN-CYCLOTRON WAVES—IMPLICATIONS FOR HEATING OF ALPHA PARTICLES IN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maneva, Y. G.; Poedts, Stefaan [Centre for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, KU Leuven, B-3001 Leuven (Belgium); Viñas, Adolfo F.; Moya, Pablo S.; Wicks, Robert T., E-mail: yana.maneva@wis.kuleuven.be [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

2015-11-20

We perform 2.5D hybrid simulations with massless fluid electrons and kinetic particle-in-cell ions to study the temporal evolution of ion temperatures, temperature anisotropies, and velocity distribution functions in relation to the dissipation and turbulent evolution of a broadband spectrum of parallel and obliquely propagating Alfvén-cyclotron waves. The purpose of this paper is to study the relative role of parallel versus oblique Alfvén-cyclotron waves in the observed heating and acceleration of alpha particles in the fast solar wind. We consider collisionless homogeneous multi-species plasma, consisting of isothermal electrons, isotropic protons, and a minor component of drifting α particles in a finite-β fast stream near the Earth. The kinetic ions are modeled by initially isotropic Maxwellian velocity distribution functions, which develop nonthermal features and temperature anisotropies when a broadband spectrum of low-frequency nonresonant, ω ≤ 0.34 Ω{sub p}, Alfvén-cyclotron waves is imposed at the beginning of the simulations. The initial plasma parameter values, such as ion density, temperatures, and relative drift speeds, are supplied by fast solar wind observations made by the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU. The imposed broadband wave spectra are left-hand polarized and resemble Wind measurements of Alfvénic turbulence in the solar wind. The imposed magnetic field fluctuations for all cases are within the inertial range of the solar wind turbulence and have a Kraichnan-type spectral slope α = −3/2. We vary the propagation angle from θ = 0° to θ = 30° and θ = 60°, and find that the heating of alpha particles is most efficient for the highly oblique waves propagating at 60°, whereas the protons exhibit perpendicular cooling at all propagation angles.

DISSIPATION OF PARALLEL AND OBLIQUE ALFVÉN-CYCLOTRON WAVES—IMPLICATIONS FOR HEATING OF ALPHA PARTICLES IN THE SOLAR WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maneva, Y. G.; Poedts, Stefaan; Viñas, Adolfo F.; Moya, Pablo S.; Wicks, Robert T.

2015-01-01

We perform 2.5D hybrid simulations with massless fluid electrons and kinetic particle-in-cell ions to study the temporal evolution of ion temperatures, temperature anisotropies, and velocity distribution functions in relation to the dissipation and turbulent evolution of a broadband spectrum of parallel and obliquely propagating Alfvén-cyclotron waves. The purpose of this paper is to study the relative role of parallel versus oblique Alfvén-cyclotron waves in the observed heating and acceleration of alpha particles in the fast solar wind. We consider collisionless homogeneous multi-species plasma, consisting of isothermal electrons, isotropic protons, and a minor component of drifting α particles in a finite-β fast stream near the Earth. The kinetic ions are modeled by initially isotropic Maxwellian velocity distribution functions, which develop nonthermal features and temperature anisotropies when a broadband spectrum of low-frequency nonresonant, ω ≤ 0.34 Ω p , Alfvén-cyclotron waves is imposed at the beginning of the simulations. The initial plasma parameter values, such as ion density, temperatures, and relative drift speeds, are supplied by fast solar wind observations made by the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU. The imposed broadband wave spectra are left-hand polarized and resemble Wind measurements of Alfvénic turbulence in the solar wind. The imposed magnetic field fluctuations for all cases are within the inertial range of the solar wind turbulence and have a Kraichnan-type spectral slope α = −3/2. We vary the propagation angle from θ = 0° to θ = 30° and θ = 60°, and find that the heating of alpha particles is most efficient for the highly oblique waves propagating at 60°, whereas the protons exhibit perpendicular cooling at all propagation angles

Electric solar wind sail mass budget model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Janhunen

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The electric solar wind sail (E-sail is a new type of propellantless propulsion system for Solar System transportation, which uses the natural solar wind to produce spacecraft propulsion. The E-sail consists of thin centrifugally stretched tethers that are kept charged by an onboard electron gun and, as such, experience Coulomb drag through the high-speed solar wind plasma stream. This paper discusses a mass breakdown and a performance model for an E-sail spacecraft that hosts a mission-specific payload of prescribed mass. In particular, the model is able to estimate the total spacecraft mass and its propulsive acceleration as a function of various design parameters such as the number of tethers and their length. A number of subsystem masses are calculated assuming existing or near-term E-sail technology. In light of the obtained performance estimates, an E-sail represents a promising propulsion system for a variety of transportation needs in the Solar System.

Magnetic fields in the solar system planets, moons and solar wind interactions

CERN Document Server

Wicht, Johannes; Gilder, Stuart; Holschneider, Matthias

2018-01-01

This book addresses and reviews many of the still little understood questions related to the processes underlying planetary magnetic fields and their interaction with the solar wind. With focus on research carried out within the German Priority Program ”PlanetMag”, it also provides an overview of the most recent research in the field. Magnetic fields play an important role in making a planet habitable by protecting the environment from the solar wind. Without the geomagnetic field, for example, life on Earth as we know it would not be possible. And results from recent space missions to Mars and Venus strongly indicate that planetary magnetic fields play a vital role in preventing atmospheric erosion by the solar wind. However, very little is known about the underlying interaction between the solar wind and a planet’s magnetic field. The book takes a synergistic interdisciplinary approach that combines newly developed tools for data acquisition and analysis, computer simulations of planetary interiors an...

Synoptic maps of solar wind parameters from in situ spacecraft observations

Science.gov (United States)

Gazis, P. R.

1995-01-01

Solar wind observations from the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform-8 (IMP-8) and Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) spacecraft from 1982 until 1988 are combined to construct synoptic maps of solar wind parameters near 1 AU. Each map consists of 6 months of hourly averaged solar wind data, binned by heliographic latitude and Carrington longitude and projected back to the Sun. These maps show the structure and time evolution of solar wind streams near 1 AU in the heliographic latitudes of +/- 7.25 deg and provide and explicit picture of several phenomena, such as gradients, changes in the inclination of the heliospheric current sheet, and the relative positions of various structures in the inner heliosphere, that is difficult to obtain from single-spacecraft observations. The stream structure varied significantly during the last solar cycle. Between 1982 and early 1985, solar wind parameters did not depend strongly on heliographic latitude. During the last solar minimum, the solar wind developed significant latitudinal structure, and high-speed streams were excluded from the vicinity of the solar equator. The interplanetary magnetic field was strongly correlated with the coronal field, and the current sheet tended to coincide with the coronal neutral line. The solar wind speed showed the expected correlations with temperature, interplanetary magnetic field, and distance from the current sheet. The solar wind speed was anticorrelated with density, but the regions of highest density occurred east of the heliospheric current sheet and the regions of lowest solar wind speed. This is consistent with compression at the leading edge of high-speed streams.

The electron temperature and anisotropy in the solar wind. Comparison of the core and halo populations

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Pierrard, V.; Lazar, M.; Poedts, S.; Štverák, Štěpán; Maksimovic, M.; Trávníček, Pavel M.

2016-01-01

Roč. 291, č. 7 (2016), s. 2165-2179 ISSN 0038-0938 Institutional support: RVO:68378289 Keywords : solar wind * electron velocity distributions * temperature anisotropy Subject RIV: BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics Impact factor: 2.682, year: 2016 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11207-016-0961-7

Solar winds along curved magnetic field lines

OpenAIRE

Li, Bo; Xia, Li-Dong; Chen, Yao

2011-01-01

Both remote-sensing measurements using the interplanetary scintillation (IPS) technique and in situ measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft show a bimodal structure for the solar wind at solar minimum conditions. At present what makes the fast wind fast and the slow wind slow still remains to be answered. While a robust empirical correlation exists between the coronal expansion rate $f_c$ of the flow tubes and the speeds $v$ measured in situ, further data analysis suggests that $v$ depends on ...

Solar wind and its interaction with the Earth magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grib, S.A.

1978-01-01

A critical review is given regarding the research of the stationary and non-stationary interaction of the solar wind with the Earth magnetosphere. Highlighted is the significance of the interplanetary magnetic field in the non-stationary movement of the solar wind flux. The problem of the solar wind shock waves interaction with the ''bow wave-Earth's magnetosphere'' system is being solved. Considered are the secondary phenomena, as a result of which the depression-type wave occurs, that lowers the pressure on the Earth's maanetosphere. The law, governing the movement of the magnetosphere subsolar point during the abrupt start of a geomagnetic storm has been discovered. Stationary circumvention of the magnetosphere by the solar wind flux is well described by the gas dynamic theory of the hypersonic flux. Non-stationary interaction of the solar wind shock waves with the magnetosphere is magnetohydrodynamic. It is pointed out, that the problems under consideration are important for the forecasting of strong geomagnetic perturbations on the basis of cosmic observations

Solar wind dependence of ion parameters in the Earth's magnetospheric region calculated from CLUSTER observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. H. Denton

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Moments calculated from the ion distributions (~0–40 keV measured by the Cluster Ion Spectrometry (CIS instrument are combined with data from the Cluster Flux Gate Magnetometer (FGM instrument and used to characterise the bulk properties of the plasma in the near-Earth magnetosphere over five years (2001–2005. Results are presented in the form of 2-D xy, xz and yz GSM cuts through the magnetosphere using data obtained from the Cluster Science Data System (CSDS and the Cluster Active Archive (CAA. Analysis reveals the distribution of ~0–40 keV ions in the inner magnetosphere is highly ordered and highly responsive to changes in solar wind velocity. Specifically, elevations in temperature are found to occur across the entire nightside plasma sheet region during times of fast solar wind. We demonstrate that the nightside plasma sheet ion temperature at a downtail distance of ~12 to 19 Earth radii increases by a factor of ~2 during periods of fast solar wind (500–1000 km s⁻¹ compared to periods of slow solar wind (100–400 km s⁻¹. The spatial extent of these increases are shown in the xy, xz and yz GSM planes. The results from the study have implications for modelling studies and simulations of solar-wind/magnetosphere coupling, which ultimately rely on in situ observations of the plasma sheet properties for input/boundary conditions.

Understanding non-equilibrium collisional and expansion effects in the solar wind with Parker Solar Probe

Science.gov (United States)

Korreck, K. E.; Klein, K. G.; Maruca, B.; Alterman, B. L.

2017-12-01

The evolution of the solar wind from the corona to the Earth and throughout the heliosphere is a complex interplay between local micro kinetics and large scale expansion effects. These processes in the solar wind need to be separated in order to understand and distinguish the dominant mechanism for heating and acceleration of the solar wind. With the upcoming launch in 2018 of Parker Solar Probe and the launch of Solar Orbiter after, addressing the local and global phenomena will be enabled with in situ measurements. Parker Solar Probe will go closer to the Sun than any previous mission enabling the ability to examine the solar wind at an early expansion age. This work examines the predictions for what will be seen inside of the 0.25 AU (54 solar radii) where Parker Solar Probe will take measurements and lays the groundwork for disentangling the expansion and collisional effects. In addition, methods of thermal plasma data analysis to determine the stability of the plasma in the Parker Solar Probe measurements will be discussed.

A study of the solar wind deceleration in the Earth's foreshock region

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, T.-L.; Schwingenschuh, K.; Russell, C. T.

1995-01-01

Previous observations have shown that the solar wind is decelerated and deflected in the earth's upstream region populated by long-period waves. This deceleration is corelated with the 'diffuse' but not with the 'reflected' ion population. The speed of the solar wind may decrease tens of km/s in the foreshock region. The solar wind dynamic pressure exerted on the magnetopause may vary due to the fluctuation of the solar wind speed and density in the foreshock region. In this study, we examine this solar wind deceleration and determine how the solar wind deceleration varies in the foreshock region.

The global morphology of the solar wind interaction with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendis, D. A.; Horányi, M.

2014-01-01

The forthcoming Rosetta-Philae mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko provides a novel opportunity to observe the variable nature of the solar wind interaction with a comet over an extended range of heliocentric distance. We use a simple analytical one-dimensional MHD model to estimate the sizes of the two most prominent features in the global structure of the solar wind interaction with a comet. When the heliocentric distance of the comet reaches d ≤ 1.51 AU, we expect a sharp shock to be observed, whose size would increase monotonically as the comet approaches the Sun, reaching a value ≅ 15, 000 km at perihelion (d ≅ 1.29 AU). Upstream of the shock, we expect the velocity-space distribution of the picked up cometary ions to be essentially gyrotropic. A well-defined ionopause is predicted when d ≤1.61 AU, though its size is expected to be only ≅25 km at perihelion, and it is expected to be susceptible to the 'flute' instability due to its small size. Consequently, we expect the magnetic field to penetrate all the way to the surface of the nucleus. We conclude with a brief discussion of the response of the comet's plasma environment to fast temporal variations in the solar wind.

The model of unshocked deceleration of the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gidalevich, E.Ya.

1977-01-01

The motion of the Sun relative to the interstellar gas is considered as an hydrodynamic flow in a point-source field. Interstellar gas has been found to undergo considerable compaction as it is braked in the solar gravitational field. Solar-wind braking due to ion charge exchange processes on interstellar hydrogen atoms is discussed. It is shown that tangible solar-wind braking occurs at a distance of about 3x1O 14 cm from the Sun in the apex direction. In the opposite direction solar wind propagates freely

Weakest solar wind of the space age and the current 'MINI' solar maximum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McComas, D. J.; Angold, N.; Elliott, H. A.; Livadiotis, G.; Schwadron, N. A.; Smith, C. W.; Skoug, R. M.

2013-01-01

The last solar minimum, which extended into 2009, was especially deep and prolonged. Since then, sunspot activity has gone through a very small peak while the heliospheric current sheet achieved large tilt angles similar to prior solar maxima. The solar wind fluid properties and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) have declined through the prolonged solar minimum and continued to be low through the current mini solar maximum. Compared to values typically observed from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, the following proton parameters are lower on average from 2009 through day 79 of 2013: solar wind speed and beta (∼11%), temperature (∼40%), thermal pressure (∼55%), mass flux (∼34%), momentum flux or dynamic pressure (∼41%), energy flux (∼48%), IMF magnitude (∼31%), and radial component of the IMF (∼38%). These results have important implications for the solar wind's interaction with planetary magnetospheres and the heliosphere's interaction with the local interstellar medium, with the proton dynamic pressure remaining near the lowest values observed in the space age: ∼1.4 nPa, compared to ∼2.4 nPa typically observed from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s. The combination of lower magnetic flux emergence from the Sun (carried out in the solar wind as the IMF) and associated low power in the solar wind points to the causal relationship between them. Our results indicate that the low solar wind output is driven by an internal trend in the Sun that is longer than the ∼11 yr solar cycle, and they suggest that this current weak solar maximum is driven by the same trend.

Prediction of velocity of the wind generation in Kobe City College of Technology; Kobe Kosen ni okeru furyoku hatsuden no yosoku

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akamatsu, K; Kanemura, M; Amako, K

1997-11-25

Wind conditions, such as average wind velocity for 10 minutes, maximum instantaneous wind velocity and wind directions, are measured by the anemometer and anemoscope installed 3m above the roof of the Kobe City College of Technology`s Information Processing Center building, to collect the data necessary to validate possibility of wind power generation, if the wind system is installed in the college site. Monthly availability of power is estimated from the output power characteristics curve for a generator having a rated capacity of 200W and wind velocity data collected for 9 months. It will generate power of only 144kWh, even when operated to give the rated output, or approximately 8.5kWh at the highest in a month, because of availability of wind power limited to around 30% of the total as estimated from the relative frequency distribution. It is therefore desirable to install a number of units having a rated capacity of 200W or else a smaller number of larger units. Assuming that days that give the highest output for 24 hours last 1 month, a power of 54.3kWh will be generated. It is estimated, based on these results, that a hybrid unit, in which a wind power generator installed at a high place is combined with a solar unit, can provide power required for nighttime lighting, if a wind power unit having a rated capacity of 2kW is field-controlled under an optimum condition. 13 figs., 3 tabs.

Heat flux dropouts in the solar wind and Coulomb scattering effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitzenreiter, R.J.; Ogilvie, K.W.

1992-01-01

Measurements of solar wind electrons at ISEE 3 located 0.01 AU upstream from the Earth indicate periods of time when the flux of antisunward suprathermal electrons decreases suddenly, leaving the velocity distribution nearly isotropic and causing the solar wind heat flux to drop. These heat flux dropouts (HFDs) are usually found in regions of increased plasma density and decreased electron temperature, and they are associated with sector boundaries. It has been suggested that HFDs may be due either to disconnection from the Sun of the magnetic flux tube in which they are found, or to enhanced Coulomb scattering of halo electrons in transit from the Sun to the Earth. Using the vector electron spectrometer on ISEE 1, the authors have found eight intervals of greatly reduced heat flux which appear to be associated with HFDs at ISEE 3. Five of the eight events were delayed by an appropriate convection time and had approximately the same duration as the corresponding ISEE 3 event. Velocity distributions during HFDs at ISEE 1 show that the depletion of halo electrons traveling away from the Sun is most pronounced in the 100-eV range, while there is essentially no depletion in the 1-keV range, and that in four cases the magnitude of the halo depletion and its upper velocity limit both depend on the density increase in the HFD. These results are shown to be in agreement with the υ -3 dependence of the Coulomb collision frequency. Thus the authors conclude that Coulomb scattering effects play a substantial role in at least some heat flux dropout events

Ensemble downscaling in coupled solar wind-magnetosphere modeling for space weather forecasting.

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, M J; Horbury, T S; Wicks, R T; McGregor, S L; Savani, N P; Xiong, M

2014-06-01

Advanced forecasting of space weather requires simulation of the whole Sun-to-Earth system, which necessitates driving magnetospheric models with the outputs from solar wind models. This presents a fundamental difficulty, as the magnetosphere is sensitive to both large-scale solar wind structures, which can be captured by solar wind models, and small-scale solar wind "noise," which is far below typical solar wind model resolution and results primarily from stochastic processes. Following similar approaches in terrestrial climate modeling, we propose statistical "downscaling" of solar wind model results prior to their use as input to a magnetospheric model. As magnetospheric response can be highly nonlinear, this is preferable to downscaling the results of magnetospheric modeling. To demonstrate the benefit of this approach, we first approximate solar wind model output by smoothing solar wind observations with an 8 h filter, then add small-scale structure back in through the addition of random noise with the observed spectral characteristics. Here we use a very simple parameterization of noise based upon the observed probability distribution functions of solar wind parameters, but more sophisticated methods will be developed in the future. An ensemble of results from the simple downscaling scheme are tested using a model-independent method and shown to add value to the magnetospheric forecast, both improving the best estimate and quantifying the uncertainty. We suggest a number of features desirable in an operational solar wind downscaling scheme. Solar wind models must be downscaled in order to drive magnetospheric models Ensemble downscaling is more effective than deterministic downscaling The magnetosphere responds nonlinearly to small-scale solar wind fluctuations.

Conductive solar wind models in rapidly diverging flow geometries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holzer, T.E.; Leer, E.

1980-01-01

A detailed parameter study of conductive models of the solar wind has been carried out, extending the previous similar studies of Durney (1972) and Durney and Hundhausen (1974) by considering collisionless inhibition of thermal conduction, rapidly diverging flow geometries, and the structure of solutions for the entire n 0 -T 0 plane (n 0 and T 0 are the coronal base density and temperature). Primary emphasis is placed on understanding the complex effects of the physical processes operative in conductive solar wind models. There are five points of particular interest that have arisen from the study: (1) neither collisionless inhibition of thermal conduction nor rapidly diverging flow geometries can significantly increase the solar wind speed at 1 AU; (2) there exists a firm upper limit on the coronal base temperature consistent with observed values of the coronal base pressure and solar wind mass flux density; (3) the principal effect of rapidly diverging flow geometries is a decrease in the solar wind mass flux density at 1 AU and an increase in the mass flux density at the coronal base; (4) collisionless inhibition of thermal conduction can lead to a solar wind flow speed that either increases or decreases with increasing coronal base density (n 0 ) and temperature (T 0 , depending on the region of the n 0 -T 0 plane considered; (5) there is a region of the n 0 -T/sub o/ plane at high coronal base densities where low-speed, high-mass-flux, transonic solar wind flows exist: a region not previously considered

A correlative study of simultaneously measured He(++) fluxes in the solar wind and in the magnetosphere utilizing Imp-1 and 1971-089A satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Shelley, E. G.

1975-01-01

Simultaneously measured He(++) fluxes in the solar wind and in the magnetosphere were studied using data from the plasma spectrometer on the Imp I satellite and the energetic ion mass spectrometer on the low altitude polar orbiting satellite 1971-89A. A detailed comparison of the He(++) energy spectra measured simultaneously in the solar wind and in the low altitude dayside polar cusp on March 7, 1972 was made. The energy-per-unit-charge range of the energetic ion mass spectrometer on board the polar orbiting satellite was 700 eV to 12 keV. Within this range there was a clear maximum in the He(++) energy spectrum at approximately 1.5 keV/nucleon. There was not a clearly defined maximum in the H(+) spectrum, but the data were consistent with a peak between 0.7 and 1.0 keV/nucleon. Both spectra could be reasonably well fit with a convecting Maxwellian plus a high energy tail; however, the mean velocity for He(++) distribution was significantly greater than that for the H(+) distribution. The simultaneous solar wind measurements showed the mean velocities for both ion species to be approximately 600 km/sec. The discrepancies between the relative velocity distributions in the low altitude cusp and those in the solar wind are consistent with a potential difference of approximately 1.4 kV along their flow direction between the two points of observation.

Charge States of Krypton and Xenon in the Solar Wind

Science.gov (United States)

Bochsler, Peter; Fludra, Andrzej; Giunta, Alessandra

2017-09-01

We calculate charge state distributions of Kr and Xe in a model for two different types of solar wind using the effective ionization and recombination rates provided from the OPEN_ADAS data base. The charge states of heavy elements in the solar wind are essential for estimating the efficiency of Coulomb drag in the inner corona. We find that xenon ions experience particularly low Coulomb drag from protons in the inner corona, comparable to the notoriously weak drag of protons on helium ions. It has been found long ago that helium in the solar wind can be strongly depleted near interplanetary current sheets, whereas coronal mass ejecta are sometimes strongly enriched in helium. We argue that if the extraordinary variability of the helium abundance in the solar wind is due to inefficient Coulomb drag, the xenon abundance must vary strongly. In fact, a secular decrease of the solar wind xenon abundance relative to the other heavier noble gases (Ne, Ar, Kr) has been postulated based on a comparison of noble gases in recently irradiated and ancient samples of ilmenite in the lunar regolith. We conclude that decreasing solar activity and decreasing frequency of coronal mass ejections over the solar lifetime might be responsible for a secularly decreasing abundance of xenon in the solar wind.

Diagnostics of the solar wind transition region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lotova, N.A.; Nagelis, Ya.V.; Rudnitskij, G.M.; Smirnova, T.V.; AN Latvijskoj SSR, Riga. Radioastrofizicheskaya Observatoriya; Moskovskij Gosudarstvennyj Univ.; AN SSSR, Moscow. Fizicheskij Inst.)

1988-01-01

Possibilities are discussed of a more complete study of hardly observable regions of the interplanetary medium, in the zone of the solar wind formation, where transition from subsonic to supersonic flow occurs at R sun . It is shown that an investigation of fine structure of the extended transonic region of the solar wind and of the sequence of changes in the parameters of the interplanetary plasma in the region of the solar wind formation with the changing distance from the Sun can be effectuated by using jointly different modifications of the occupation method. Combination of two or more modifications of this method supposes using compact radio sources of different classes and observations in two different wavelength ranges, namely at short centimeter and at meter waves

Electron heat flux dropouts in the solar wind: Evidence for interplanetary magnetic field reconnection?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McComas, D.J.; Gosling, J.T.; Phillips, J.L.; Bame, S.J.; Luhmann, J.G.; Smith, E.J.

1989-01-01

Electron heat flux dropout events have been observed in the solar wind using the ISEE 3 plasma electron data set. These events manifest themselves as dropouts of the solar wind halo electrons which are normally found streaming outward along the local magnetic field. These dropouts leave nearly isotropic distributions of solar wind halo electrons, and consequently, the heat flux in these events is reduced to near the observational noise level. We have examined ISEE 3 data from shortly after launch (August 16, 1978) through the end of 1978 and identified 25 such events ranging in duration from 20 min to over 11 hours. Comparison with the ISEE 3 magnetometer data indicates that these intervals nearly always occur in conjunction with large rotations of the interplanetary magnetic field. Statistical analyses of the plasma and magnetic field data for the 25 dropout intervals indicate that heat flux dropouts generally occur in association with high plasma densities low plasma velocities, low ion and electron temperatures, and low magnetic field magnitudes. A second set of 25 intervals chosen specifically to lie at large field rotations, but at times at which not heat flux dropouts were observed, do not show these characteristic plalsma variations. This suggests that the dropout intervals comprise a unique set of events. Since the hot halo electrons normally found streaming outward from the Sun along the interplanetary magnetic field (the solar wind electron heat flux) are a result of direct magnetic connection to the hot solar corona, heat flux dropout intervals may indicate that the spacecraft is sampling plasma regimes which are magnetically disconnected from the Sun and instead are connected to the outer heliosphere at both ends

SUNWARD PROPAGATING ALFVÉN WAVES IN ASSOCIATION WITH SUNWARD DRIFTING PROTON BEAMS IN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

He, Jiansen; Pei, Zhongtian; Wang, Linghua; Tu, Chuanyi; Zhang, Lei [School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China); Marsch, Eckart [Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, D-24118 Kiel (Germany); Salem, Chadi, E-mail: jshept@gmail.com [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

2015-06-01

Using measurements from the WIND spacecraft, here we report the observation of sunward propagating Alfvén waves (AWs) in solar wind that is magnetically disconnected from the Earth's bow shock. In the sunward magnetic field sector, we find a period lasting for more than three days in which there existed (during most time intervals) a negative correlation between the flow velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, thus indicating that the related AWs are mainly propagating sunward. Simultaneous observations of counter-streaming suprathermal electrons suggest that these sunward AWs may not simply be due to the deflection of an open magnetic field line. Moreover, no interplanetary coronal mass ejection appears to be associated with the counter-streaming suprathermal electrons. As the scale goes from the magnetohydrodynamic down to the ion kinetic regime, the wave vector of magnetic fluctuations usually becomes more orthogonal to the mean magnetic field direction, and the fluctuations become increasingly compressible, which are both features consistent with quasi-perpendicular kinetic AWs. However, in the case studied here, we find clear signatures of quasi-parallel sunward propagating ion-cyclotron waves. Concurrently, the solar wind proton velocity distribution reveals a sunward field-aligned beam that drifts at about the local Alfvén speed. This beam is found to run in the opposite direction of the normally observed (anti-sunward) proton beam, and is apparently associated with sunward propagating Alfvén/ion-cyclotron waves. The results and conclusions of this study enrich our knowledge of solar wind turbulence and foster our understanding of proton heating and acceleration within a complex magnetic field geometry.

A comparison of solar wind streams and coronal structure near solar minimum

Science.gov (United States)

Nolte, J. T.; Davis, J. M.; Gerassimenko, M.; Lazarus, A. J.; Sullivan, J. D.

1977-01-01

Solar wind data from the MIT detectors on the IMP 7 and 8 satellites and the SOLRAD 11B satellite for the solar-minimum period September-December, 1976, were compared with X-ray images of the solar corona taken by rocket-borne telescopes on September 16 and November 17, 1976. There was no compelling evidence that a coronal hole was the source of any high speed stream. Thus it is possible that either coronal holes were not the sources of all recurrent high-speed solar wind streams during the declining phase of the solar cycle, as might be inferred from the Skylab period, or there was a change in the appearance of some magnetic field regions near the time of solar minimum.

INJECTION OF PLASMA INTO THE NASCENT SOLAR WIND VIA RECONNECTION DRIVEN BY SUPERGRANULAR ADVECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Liping; He Jiansen; Tu Chuanyi; Chen Wenlei; Zhang Lei; Wang Linghua; Yan Limei; Peter, Hardi; Marsch, Eckart; Feng, Xueshang

2013-01-01

To understand the origin of the solar wind is one of the key research topics in modern solar and heliospheric physics. Previous solar wind models assumed that plasma flows outward along a steady magnetic flux tube that reaches continuously from the photosphere through the chromosphere into the corona. Inspired by more recent comprehensive observations, Tu et al. suggested a new scenario for the origin of the solar wind, in which it flows out in a magnetically open coronal funnel and mass is provided to the funnel by small-scale side loops. Thus mass is supplied by means of magnetic reconnection that is driven by supergranular convection. To validate this scenario and simulate the processes involved, a 2.5 dimensional (2.5D) numerical MHD model is established in the present paper. In our simulation a closed loop moves toward an open funnel, which has opposite polarity and is located at the edge of a supergranulation cell, and magnetic reconnection is triggered and continues while gradually opening up one half of the closed loop. Its other half connects with the root of the open funnel and forms a new closed loop which is submerged by a reconnection plasma stream flowing downward. Thus we find that the outflowing plasma in the newly reconnected funnel originates not only from the upward reconnection flow but also from the high-pressure leg of the originally closed loop. This implies an efficient supply of mass from the dense loop to the dilute funnel. The mass flux of the outflow released from the funnel considered in our study is calculated to be appropriate for providing the mass flux at the coronal base of the solar wind, though additional heating and acceleration mechanisms are necessary to keep the velocity at the higher location. Our numerical model demonstrates that in the funnel the mass for the solar wind may be supplied from adjacent closed loops via magnetic reconnection as well as directly from the footpoints of open funnels.

On the measurements of large scale solar velocity fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andersen, B.N.

1985-01-01

A general mathematical formulation for the correction of the scattered light influence on solar Doppler shift measurements has been developed. This method has been applied to the straylight correction of measurements of solar rotation, limb effect, large scale flows and oscillations. It is shown that neglecting the straylight errors may cause spurious large scale velocity fields, oscillations and erronous values for the solar rotation and limb effect. The influence of active regions on full disc velocity measurements has been studied. It is shown that a 13 day periodicity in the global velocity signal will be introduced by the passage of sunspots over the solar disc. With different types of low resolution apertures, other periodicities may be introduced. Accurate measurements of the center-to-limb velocity shift are presented for a set of magnetic insensitive lines well suited for solar velocity measurements. The absolute wavelenght shifts are briefly discussed. The stronger lines have a ''supergravitational'' shift of 300-400 m/s at the solar limb. The results may be explained by the presence of a 20-25 m/s poleward meridional flow and a latitudinal dependence of the granular parameters. Using a simple model it is shown that the main properites of the observations are explained by a 5% increase in the granular size with latitude. Data presented indicate that the resonance line K I, 769.9 nm has a small but significant limb effect of 125 m/s from center to limb

Wind and Solar Curtailment: International Experience and Practices

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lew, Debra; Bird, Lori; Milligan, Michael

2013-01-01

High penetrations of wind and solar generation on power systems are resulting in increasing curtailment. Wind and solar integration studies predict increased curtailment as penetration levels grow. This paper examines experiences with curtailment on bulk power systems internationally. It discusses...... how much curtailment is occurring, how it is occurring, why it is occurring, and what is being done to reduce curtailment. This summary is produced as part of the International Energy Agency Wind Task 25 on Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power....

Wind in the Solar System

Science.gov (United States)

McIntosh, Gordon

2010-01-01

As an astronomy instructor I am always looking for commonly experienced Earthly phenomena to help my students and me understand and appreciate similar occurrences elsewhere in the solar system. Recently I wrote short "TPT" articles on frost and precipitation. The present article is on winds in the solar system. A windy day or storm might…

Characterization of wind velocities in the upstream induction zone of a wind turbine using scanning continuous-wave lidars

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simley, Eric; Angelou, Nikolas; Mikkelsen, Torben Krogh

2016-01-01

As a wind turbine generates power, induced velocities, lower than the freestream velocity, will be present upstream of the turbine due to perturbation of the flow by the rotor. In this study, the upstream induction zone of a 225kW horizontal axis Vestas V27 wind turbine located at the Danish...... Technical University’s Risø campus is investigated using a scanning Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) system. Three short-range continuous-wave “WindScanner” lidars are positioned in the field around the V27 turbine allowing detection of all three components of the wind velocity vectors within...... the induction zone. The time-averaged mean wind speeds at different locations in the upstream induction zone are measured by scanning a horizontal plane at hub height and a vertical plane centered at the middle of the rotor extending roughly 1.5 rotor diameters (D) upstream of the rotor. Turbulence statistics...

The Solar Wind Source Cycle: Relationship to Dynamo Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Luhmann, J. G.; Li, Y.; Lee, C. O.; Jian, L. K.; Petrie, G. J. D.; Arge, C. N.

2017-12-01

Solar cycle trends of interest include the evolving properties of the solar wind, the heliospheric medium through which the Sun's plasmas and fields interact with Earth and the planets -including the evolution of CME/ICMEs enroute. Solar wind sources include the coronal holes-the open field regions that constantly evolve with solar magnetic fields as the cycle progresses, and the streamers between them. The recent cycle has been notably important in demonstrating that not all solar cycles are alike when it comes to contributions from these sources, including in the case of ecliptic solar wind. In particular, it has modified our appreciation of the low latitude coronal hole and streamer sources because of their relative prevalence. One way to understand the basic relationship between these source differences and what is happening inside the Sun and on its surface is to use observation-based models like the PFSS model to evaluate the evolution of the coronal field geometry. Although the accuracy of these models is compromised around solar maximum by lack of global surface field information and the sometimes non-potential evolution of the field related to more frequent and widespread emergence of active regions, they still approximate the character of the coronal field state. We use these models to compare the inferred recent cycle coronal holes and streamer belt sources of solar wind with past cycle counterparts. The results illustrate how (still) hemispherically asymmetric weak polar fields maintain a complex mix of low-to-mid latitude solar wind sources throughout the latest cycle, with a related marked asymmetry in the hemispheric distribution of the ecliptic wind sources. This is likely to be repeated until the polar field strength significantly increases relative to the fields at low latitudes, and the latter symmetrize.

Extended neutral atmosphere effect on solar wind interaction with nonmagnetic bodies of the solar system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breus, T.K.; Krymskij, A.M.; Mitnitskij, V.Ya.

1987-01-01

Numeric modelling of the Venus flow-around by the solar wind with regard to stream loading by heavy ions, produced under photoionization of the Venus neutral oxygen corona, is conducted. It is shown, that this effect can account for a whole number of peculiarities related to the solar wind interaction with the planet which have not been clearly explained yet, namely, shock wave position, solar wind stream and magnetic field characteristics behind the front

EVOLUTION OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HELIUM ABUNDANCE, MINOR ION CHARGE STATE, AND SOLAR WIND SPEED OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasper, J. C.; Stevens, M. L.; Korreck, K. E.; Maruca, B. A.; Kiefer, K. K.; Schwadron, N. A.; Lepri, S. T.

2012-01-01

The changing relationships between solar wind speed, helium abundance, and minor ion charge state are examined over solar cycle 23. Observations of the abundance of helium relative to hydrogen (A He ≡ 100 × n He /n H ) by the Wind spacecraft are used to examine the dependence of A He on solar wind speed and solar activity between 1994 and 2010. This work updates an earlier study of A He from 1994 to 2004 to include the recent extreme solar minimum and broadly confirms our previous result that A He in slow wind is strongly correlated with sunspot number, reaching its lowest values in each solar minima. During the last minimum, as sunspot numbers reached their lowest levels in recent history, A He continued to decrease, falling to half the levels observed in slow wind during the previous minimum and, for the first time observed, decreasing even in the fastest solar wind. We have also extended our previous analysis by adding measurements of the mean carbon and oxygen charge states observed with the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft since 1998. We find that as solar activity decreased, the mean charge states of oxygen and carbon for solar wind of a given speed also fell, implying that the wind was formed in cooler regions in the corona during the recent solar minimum. The physical processes in the coronal responsible for establishing the mean charge state and speed of the solar wind have evolved with solar activity and time.

Method for Estimating Evaporative Potential (IM/CLO) from ASTM Standard Single Wind Velocity Measures

Science.gov (United States)

2016-08-10

IM/CLO) FROM ASTM STANDARD SINGLE WIND VELOCITY MEASURES DISCLAIMER The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the...USARIEM TECHNICAL REPORT T16-14 METHOD FOR ESTIMATING EVAPORATIVE POTENTIAL (IM/CLO) FROM ASTM STANDARD SINGLE WIND VELOCITY... ASTM STANDARD SINGLE WIND VELOCITY MEASURES Adam W. Potter Biophysics and Biomedical Modeling Division U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental

Determination of angular rotation velocity of Dar'e wind turbine with straight blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ershina, A.K.; Ershin, Sh.A.; Upnanov, T.K.

1999-01-01

In the report the method of angular velocity determination for wind turbine of given capacity with allowing for an average seasonal wind velocity and all geometrical and dynamical characteristics of the unit is presented. It is noted, that this wind turbine has following advantages: wind direction does not plays role due to vertical axis position of the turbine; electric generator and other equipment are arranged on the ground, that reduce construction's weight, expedite of servicing and repair; the wind turbine has high coefficient of wind energy use (ξ max =0.45)

Wind/solar resource in Texas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelson, V.; Starcher, K.; Gaines, H. [West Texas A& M Univ., Canyon, TX (United States)

1997-12-31

Data are being collected at 17 sites to delineate a baseline for the wind and solar resource across Texas. Wind data are being collected at 10, 25, and 40 m (in some cases at 50 m) to determine wind shear and power at hub heights of large turbines. Many of the sites are located in areas of predicted terrain enhancement. The typical day in a month for power and wind turbine output was calculated for selected sites and combination of sites; distributed systems. Major result to date is that there is the possibility of load matching in South Texas during the summer months, even though the average values by month indicate a low wind potential.

QUIET-TIME SUPRATHERMAL (∼0.1–1.5 keV) ELECTRONS IN THE SOLAR WIND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tao, Jiawei; Wang, Linghua; Zong, Qiugang; He, Jiansen; Tu, Chuanyi [School of Earth and Space Science, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China); Li, Gang [Department of Physics and CSPAR, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama 35899 (United States); Salem, Chadi S.; Bale, Stuart D. [Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F., E-mail: wanglhwang@gmail.com [Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Kiel, Leibnizstrasse 11, D-24118 Kiel (Germany)

2016-03-20

We present a statistical survey of the energy spectrum of solar wind suprathermal (∼0.1–1.5 keV) electrons measured by the WIND 3DP instrument at 1 AU during quiet times at the minimum and maximum of solar cycles 23 and 24. After separating (beaming) strahl electrons from (isotropic) halo electrons according to their different behaviors in the angular distribution, we fit the observed energy spectrum of both strahl and halo electrons at ∼0.1–1.5 keV to a Kappa distribution function with an index κ and effective temperature T{sub eff}. We also calculate the number density n and average energy E{sub avg} of strahl and halo electrons by integrating the electron measurements between ∼0.1 and 1.5 keV. We find a strong positive correlation between κ and T{sub eff} for both strahl and halo electrons, and a strong positive correlation between the strahl n and halo n, likely reflecting the nature of the generation of these suprathermal electrons. In both solar cycles, κ is larger at solar minimum than at solar maximum for both strahl and halo electrons. The halo κ is generally smaller than the strahl κ (except during the solar minimum of cycle 23). The strahl n is larger at solar maximum, but the halo n shows no difference between solar minimum and maximum. Both the strahl n and halo n have no clear association with the solar wind core population, but the density ratio between the strahl and halo roughly anti-correlates (correlates) with the solar wind density (velocity)

Observation and analysis of abrupt changes in the interplanetary plasma velocity and magnetic field.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, R. N.; Belcher, J. W.; Lazarus, A. J.

1973-01-01

This paper presents a limited study of the physical nature of abrupt changes in the interplanetary plasma velocity and magnetic field based on 19 day's data from the Pioneer 6 spacecraft. The period was chosen to include a high-velocity solar wind stream and low-velocity wind. Abrupt events were accepted for study if the sum of the energy density in the magnetic field and velocity changes was above a specified minimum. A statistical analysis of the events in the high-velocity solar wind stream shows that Alfvenic changes predominate. This conclusion is independent of whether steady state requirements are imposed on conditions before and after the event. Alfvenic changes do not dominate in the lower-speed wind. This study extends the plasma field evidence for outwardly propagating Alfvenic changes to time scales as small as 1 min (scale lengths on the order of 20,000 km).

Artificial neural network approach to spatial estimation of wind velocity data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oztopal, Ahmet

2006-01-01

In any regional wind energy assessment, equal wind velocity or energy lines provide a common basis for meaningful interpretations that furnish essential information for proper design purposes. In order to achieve regional variation descriptions, there are methods of optimum interpolation with classical weighting functions or variogram methods in Kriging methodology. Generally, the weighting functions are logically and geometrically deduced in a deterministic manner, and hence, they are imaginary first approximations for regional variability assessments, such as wind velocity. Geometrical weighting functions are necessary for regional estimation of the regional variable at a location with no measurement, which is referred to as the pivot station from the measurements of a set of surrounding stations. In this paper, weighting factors of surrounding stations necessary for the prediction of a pivot station are presented by an artificial neural network (ANN) technique. The wind speed prediction results are compared with measured values at a pivot station. Daily wind velocity measurements in the Marmara region from 1993 to 1997 are considered for application of the ANN methodology. The model is more appropriate for winter period daily wind velocities, which are significant for energy generation in the study area. Trigonometric point cumulative semivariogram (TPCSV) approach results are compared with the ANN estimations for the same set of data by considering the correlation coefficient (R). Under and over estimation problems in objective analysis can be avoided by the ANN approach

Combined wind and solar feed-in to the grid

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mushwana, Crescent

2018-05-01

Full Text Available This presentation highlights South African wind and solar resources and presents a case study on wind and solar PV combination. It also distinguishes between traditional and new philosophies regarding energy system design and the changes...

Solar-wind krypton and solid/gas fractionation in the early solar nebula

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, Roger C.; Burnett, D. S.; Neugebauer, M.; Pepin, R. O.

1991-01-01

The solar-system Kr abundance is calculated from solar-wind noble-gas ratios, determined previously by low-temperature oxidations of lunar ilmenite grains, normalized to Si by spacecraft solar-wind measurements. The estimated Kr-83 abundance of 4.1 + or - 1.5 per million Si atoms is within uncertainty of estimates assuming no fractionation, determined from CI-chondrite abundances of surrounding elements. This is significant because it is the first such constraint on solid/gas fractionation, though the large uncertainty only confines it to somewhat less than a factor of two.

Identifying Wind and Solar Ramping Events: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Florita, A.; Hodge, B. M.; Orwig, K.

2013-01-01

Wind and solar power are playing an increasing role in the electrical grid, but their inherent power variability can augment uncertainties in power system operations. One solution to help mitigate the impacts and provide more flexibility is enhanced wind and solar power forecasting; however, its relative utility is also uncertain. Within the variability of solar and wind power, repercussions from large ramping events are of primary concern. At the same time, there is no clear definition of what constitutes a ramping event, with various criteria used in different operational areas. Here the Swinging Door Algorithm, originally used for data compression in trend logging, is applied to identify variable generation ramping events from historic operational data. The identification of ramps in a simple and automated fashion is a critical task that feeds into a larger work of 1) defining novel metrics for wind and solar power forecasting that attempt to capture the true impact of forecast errors on system operations and economics, and 2) informing various power system models in a data-driven manner for superior exploratory simulation research. Both allow inference on sensitivities and meaningful correlations, as well as the ability to quantify the value of probabilistic approaches for future use in practice.

The Solar Wind as a Turbulence Laboratory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Carbone

2013-05-01

Full Text Available In this review we will focus on a topic of fundamental importance for both astrophysics and plasma physics, namely the occurrence of large-amplitude low-frequency fluctuations of the fields that describe the plasma state. This subject will be treated within the context of the expanding solar wind and the most meaningful advances in this research field will be reported emphasizing the results obtained in the past decade or so. As a matter of fact, Helios inner heliosphere and Ulysses' high latitude observations, recent multi-spacecrafts measurements in the solar wind (Cluster four satellites and new numerical approaches to the problem, based on the dynamics of complex systems, brought new important insights which helped to better understand how turbulent fluctuations behave in the solar wind. In particular, numerical simulations within the realm of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD turbulence theory unraveled what kind of physical mechanisms are at the basis of turbulence generation and energy transfer across the spectral domain of the fluctuations. In other words, the advances reached in these past years in the investigation of solar wind turbulence now offer a rather complete picture of the phenomenological aspect of the problem to be tentatively presented in a rather organic way.

The solar wind in time: a change in the behaviour of older winds?

Science.gov (United States)

O'Fionnagáin, D.; Vidotto, A. A.

2018-05-01

In this paper, we model the wind of solar analogues at different ages to investigate the evolution of the solar wind. Recently, it has been suggested that winds of solar type stars might undergo a change in properties at old ages, whereby stars older than the Sun would be less efficient in carrying away angular momentum than what was traditionally believed. Adding to this, recent observations suggest that old solar-type stars show a break in coronal properties, with a steeper decay in X-ray luminosities and temperatures at older ages. We use these X-ray observations to constrain the thermal acceleration of winds of solar analogues. Our sample is based on the stars from the `Sun in Time' project with ages between 120 and 7000 Myr. The break in X-ray properties leads to a break in wind mass-loss rates (\\dot{M}) at roughly 2 Gyr, with \\dot{M} (t 2 Gyr) ∝ t-3.9. This steep decay in \\dot{M} at older ages could be the reason why older stars are less efficient at carrying away angular momentum, which would explain the anomalously rapid rotation observed in older stars. We also show that none of the stars in our sample would have winds dense enough to produce thermal emission above 1-2 GHz, explaining why their radio emissions have not yet been detected. Combining our models with dynamo evolution models for the magnetic field of the Earth, we find that, at early ages (≈100 Myr), our Earth had a magnetosphere that was three or more times smaller than its current size.

Large-scale interaction of the solar wind with cometary plasma tails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niedner, M.B. Jr.

1979-01-01

The study of the behavior of plasma tails in the context of their interaction with the solar wind could have important implications for the structure of the interplanetary medium in three dimensions. Comet Kohoutek 1973f exhibited a broad range of plasma tail behavior. On 1974 January 20, the tail was in a highly disturbed condition. Comet Kohoutek was encountering the leading edge of a very strong high-speed stream at the time the plasma tail disturbance started to develop. Comparison of the observed tail geometry on January 20 with the theoretical position angles generated from the wind sock theory of plasma tails and the corotated satellite observations shows that the tail disturbance was probably caused by large gradients of the polar component of the solar-wind velocity. Within hours after the disturbance of January 20, the plasma tail of comet Kohoutek became disconnected from the cometary head, and was replaced by a new plasma tail. The comet was very near an interplanetary sector boundary at the time of disconnection. The disconnection event (DE) is suggested to have resulted from the magnetic reconnection of plasma tail field lines. A similar analysis of other DEs found in original plate material and in published photographs shows the most DEs occur near corotated sector boundaries. Thus, the sector boundary model is further supported, and the finding provides the only known method of probing sector structure to high latitudes. Sector boundaries can often extend to high latitudes in a nearly North-South orientation, and this property is not restricted to times away from solar minimum. Furthermore, the boundaries are inferred to be randomly tilted with respect to the polarity sequence across the boundary and to the magnetic signs of the solar poles

Weather-power station. Solar energy, wind energy, water energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schatta, M

1975-10-02

A combined power station is described, which enables one to convert solar energy and wind energy into other forms of energy. The plant consists of a water-filled boiler, in which solar energy heats the water by concentration, solar cells, and finally wind rotors, which transform wind energy into electrical energy. The transformed energy is partly available as steam heat, partly as mechanical or electrical energy. The plant can be used for supplying heating systems or electrolysis equipment. Finally, by incorporating suitable motors, a mobile version of the system can be produced.

ENERGY DISSIPATION PROCESSES IN SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Y.; Wei, F. S.; Feng, X. S.; Sun, T. R.; Zuo, P. B. [SIGMA Weather Group, State Key Laboratory for Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Xu, X. J. [Space Science Institute, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao (China); Zhang, J., E-mail: yw@spaceweather.ac.cn [School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 3F3, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 (United States)

2015-12-15

Turbulence is a chaotic flow regime filled by irregular flows. The dissipation of turbulence is a fundamental problem in the realm of physics. Theoretically, dissipation ultimately cannot be achieved without collisions, and so how turbulent kinetic energy is dissipated in the nearly collisionless solar wind is a challenging problem. Wave particle interactions and magnetic reconnection (MR) are two possible dissipation mechanisms, but which mechanism dominates is still a controversial topic. Here we analyze the dissipation region scaling around a solar wind MR region. We find that the MR region shows unique multifractal scaling in the dissipation range, while the ambient solar wind turbulence reveals a monofractal dissipation process for most of the time. These results provide the first observational evidences for intermittent multifractal dissipation region scaling around a MR site, and they also have significant implications for the fundamental energy dissipation process.

Theoretical contributions to solar wind research - a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuperman, S.

1977-01-01

The theoretical work on the solar wind phenomena done since 1958 can be divided into two main parts: Part I - development and refinement of Parker's initial macroscopic model, the emphasis being placed upon steady state, spherically symmetric flow and the identification of the structure-less background solar wind plasma with the low speed flow. It is in this part that much progress in understanding the solar wind phenomenon has been achieved; Part II - generalization of Parker's initial model such as to include microscopic (kinetic) aspects, temporal variations, deviations from spherically symmetric conditions, complex local magnetic configurations, etc. The last two aspects, in particular, have received considerable attention with the discovery of the coronal holes, their association with high-speed flows and the tentative identification of these flows with the structure-less background solar wind plasma. This review is confined to Part I, as defined above. However, for completeness, several important aspects connected with the subjects enumerated under Part II and which represent the objects of the most recent investigation are also briefly reviewed. (Auth.)

Low-dimensionality and predictability of solar wind and global magnetosphere during magnetic storms

OpenAIRE

Zivkovic, Tatjana; Rypdal, Kristoffer

2011-01-01

This article is part of Tatjana Živkovics' doctoral thesis. Available in Munin at http://hdl.handle.net/10037/3231 The storm index SYM-H, the solar wind velocity v, and interplanetary magnetic field Bz show no signatures of low-dimensional dynamics in quiet periods, but tests for determinism in the time series indicate that SYM-H exhibits a significant low-dimensional component during storm time, suggesting that self-organization takes place during magnetic storms. Even though our analysis...

Latitudinal distribution of the solar wind properties in the low- and high-pressure regimes: Wind observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Lacombe

Full Text Available The solar wind properties depend on λ, the heliomagnetic latitude with respect to the heliospheric current sheet (HCS, more than on the heliographic latitude. We analyse the wind properties observed by Wind at 1 AU during about 2.5 solar rotations in 1995, a period close to the last minimum of solar activity. To determine λ, we use a model of the HCS which we fit to the magnetic sector boundary crossings observed by Wind. We find that the solar wind properties mainly depend on the modulus |λ|. But they also depend on a local parameter, the total pressure (magnetic pressure plus electron and proton thermal pressure. Furthermore, whatever the total pressure, we observe that the plasma properties also depend on the time: the latitudinal gradients of the wind speed and of the proton temperature are not the same before and after the closest HCS crossing. This is a consequence of the dynamical stream interactions. In the low pressure wind, at low |λ|, we find a clear maximum of the density, a clear minimum of the wind speed and of the proton temperature, a weak minimum of the average magnetic field strength, a weak maximum of the average thermal pressure, and a weak maximum of the average β factor. This overdense sheet is embedded in a density halo. The latitudinal thickness is about 5^° for the overdense sheet, and 20^° for the density halo. The HCS is thus wrapped in an overdense sheet surrounded by a halo, even in the non-compressed solar wind. In the high-pressure wind, the plasma properties are less well ordered as functions of the latitude than in the low-pressure wind; the minimum of the average speed is seen before the HCS crossing. The latitudinal thickness of the high-pressure region is about 20^°. Our observations are qualitatively consistent with the numerical model of Pizzo for the deformation of the heliospheric current sheet and plasma sheet.

Key words: Interplanetary physics (solar wind

The Potential of hybrid solar-wind electricity generation in Ghana

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tibiru, Ayirewura Vitus

2013-07-01

In this work the potential of harnessing electricity from solar and wind sources in Ghana is evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively. In this regard solar, wind and other relevant data were collected (over a period of one year) from various parts of Ghana. Detailed assessment of the capacity or potential of power production from hybrid solar-wind sources is done with the use of empirical mathematical formulae and the PRO VITUS model incorporated in the 'ENERGY X' software. The various characteristics of wind, solar and available energy resources for the five locations over a one year period have been studied too. The annual mean wind speed at a height of 10 m above ground level for five locations namely Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Sunyani and Tamale are 2.38 ms"-"1 ± 0.05, 2.39 ms"-"1 ± 0.05, 2.38 ms"-"1 ± 0.06, 2.18 ms"-"1 ± 0.05 and 2.47 ± ms"-"1 respectively and their corresponding annual mean solar radiations are 228.71 Wm"-"2 ± 9.81, 187.69 Wm"-"2 ± 9.60, 236.58 Wm"-"2 ± 10.39, 200.99 Wm"-"2 ± 9.88 and 231.63 Wm"-"2 . Thus, the five sites hold potential for hybrid solar-wind energy exploitation. (au)

The turbulent cascade and proton heating in the solar wind during solar minimum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coburn, Jesse T.; Smith, Charles W.; Vasquez, Bernard J.; Stawarz, Joshua E.; Forman, Miriam A.

2013-01-01

Solar wind measurements at 1 AU during the recent solar minimum and previous studies of solar maximum provide an opportunity to study the effects of the changing solar cycle on in situ heating. Our interest is to compare the levels of activity associated with turbulence and proton heating. Large-scale shears in the flow caused by transient activity are a source that drives turbulence that heats the solar wind, but as the solar cycle progresses the dynamics that drive the turbulence and heat the medium are likely to change. The application of third-moment theory to Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) data gives the turbulent energy cascade rate which is not seen to vary with the solar cycle. Likewise, an empirical heating rate shows no significan changes in proton heating over the cycle.

HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES IN THE POLAR SOLAR WIND OBSERVED BY ULYSSES NEAR THE MINIMA OF SOLAR CYCLES 22 AND 23

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ebert, R. W.; Dayeh, M. A.; Desai, M. I.; McComas, D. J. [Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228 (United States); Pogorelov, N. V. [Physics Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States)

2013-05-10

We examined solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) observations from Ulysses' first and third orbits to study hemispheric differences in the properties of the solar wind and IMF originating from the Sun's large polar coronal holes (PCHs) during the declining and minimum phase of solar cycles 22 and 23. We identified hemispheric asymmetries in several parameters, most notably {approx}15%-30% south-to-north differences in averages for the solar wind density, mass flux, dynamic pressure, and energy flux and the radial and total IMF magnitudes. These differences were driven by relatively larger, more variable solar wind density and radial IMF between {approx}36 Degree-Sign S-60 Degree-Sign S during the declining phase of solar cycles 22 and 23. These observations indicate either a hemispheric asymmetry in the PCH output during the declining and minimum phase of solar cycles 22 and 23 with the southern hemisphere being more active than its northern counterpart, or a solar cycle effect where the PCH output in both hemispheres is enhanced during periods of higher solar activity. We also report a strong linear correlation between these solar wind and IMF parameters, including the periods of enhanced PCH output, that highlight the connection between the solar wind mass and energy output and the Sun's magnetic field. That these enhancements were not matched by similar sized variations in solar wind speed points to the mass and energy responsible for these increases being added to the solar wind while its flow was subsonic.

HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES IN THE POLAR SOLAR WIND OBSERVED BY ULYSSES NEAR THE MINIMA OF SOLAR CYCLES 22 AND 23

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ebert, R. W.; Dayeh, M. A.; Desai, M. I.; McComas, D. J.; Pogorelov, N. V.

2013-01-01

We examined solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) observations from Ulysses' first and third orbits to study hemispheric differences in the properties of the solar wind and IMF originating from the Sun's large polar coronal holes (PCHs) during the declining and minimum phase of solar cycles 22 and 23. We identified hemispheric asymmetries in several parameters, most notably ∼15%-30% south-to-north differences in averages for the solar wind density, mass flux, dynamic pressure, and energy flux and the radial and total IMF magnitudes. These differences were driven by relatively larger, more variable solar wind density and radial IMF between ∼36°S-60°S during the declining phase of solar cycles 22 and 23. These observations indicate either a hemispheric asymmetry in the PCH output during the declining and minimum phase of solar cycles 22 and 23 with the southern hemisphere being more active than its northern counterpart, or a solar cycle effect where the PCH output in both hemispheres is enhanced during periods of higher solar activity. We also report a strong linear correlation between these solar wind and IMF parameters, including the periods of enhanced PCH output, that highlight the connection between the solar wind mass and energy output and the Sun's magnetic field. That these enhancements were not matched by similar sized variations in solar wind speed points to the mass and energy responsible for these increases being added to the solar wind while its flow was subsonic.

A Deeper Understanding of Stability in the Solar Wind: Applying Nyquist's Instability Criterion to Wind Faraday Cup Data

Science.gov (United States)

Alterman, B. L.; Klein, K. G.; Verscharen, D.; Stevens, M. L.; Kasper, J. C.

2017-12-01

Long duration, in situ data sets enable large-scale statistical analysis of free-energy-driven instabilities in the solar wind. The plasma beta and temperature anisotropy plane provides a well-defined parameter space in which a single-fluid plasma's stability can be represented. Because this reduced parameter space can only represent instability thresholds due to the free energy of one ion species - typically the bulk protons - the true impact of instabilities on the solar wind is under estimated. Nyquist's instability criterion allows us to systematically account for other sources of free energy including beams, drifts, and additional temperature anisotropies. Utilizing over 20 years of Wind Faraday cup and magnetic field observations, we have resolved the bulk parameters for three ion populations: the bulk protons, beam protons, and alpha particles. Applying Nyquist's criterion, we calculate the number of linearly growing modes supported by each spectrum and provide a more nuanced consideration of solar wind stability. Using collisional age measurements, we predict the stability of the solar wind close to the sun. Accounting for the free-energy from the three most common ion populations in the solar wind, our approach provides a more complete characterization of solar wind stability.

Evaluation of beam tracking strategies for the THOR-CSW solar wind instrument

Science.gov (United States)

De Keyser, Johan; Lavraud, Benoit; Prech, Lubomir; Neefs, Eddy; Berkenbosch, Sophie; Beeckman, Bram; Maggiolo, Romain; Fedorov, Andrei; Baruah, Rituparna; Wong, King-Wah; Amoros, Carine; Mathon, Romain; Génot, Vincent

2017-04-01

We compare different beam tracking strategies for the Cold Solar Wind (CSW) plasma spectrometer on the ESA M4 THOR mission candidate. The goal is to intelligently select the energy and angular windows the instrument is sampling and to adapt these windows as the solar wind properties evolve, with the aim to maximize the velocity distribution acquisition rate while maintaining excellent energy and angular resolution. Using synthetic data constructed using high-cadence measurements by the Faraday cup instrument on the Spektr-R mission (30 ms resolution), we test the performance of energy beam tracking with or without angular beam tracking. The algorithm can be fed both by data acquired by the plasma spectrometer during the previous measurement cycle, or by data from another instrument, in casu the Faraday Cup (FAR) instrument foreseen on THOR. We verify how these beam tracking algorithms behave for different sizes of the energy and angular windows, and for different data integration times, in order to assess the limitations of the algorithm and to avoid situations in which the algorithm loses track of the beam.

Arbitrary-order Hilbert Spectral Analysis and Intermittency in Solar Wind Density Fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Carbone, Francesco; Sorriso-Valvo, Luca; Alberti, Tommaso; Lepreti, Fabio; Chen, Christopher H. K.; Němeček, Zdenek; Šafránková, Jana

2018-05-01

The properties of inertial- and kinetic-range solar wind turbulence have been investigated with the arbitrary-order Hilbert spectral analysis method, applied to high-resolution density measurements. Due to the small sample size and to the presence of strong nonstationary behavior and large-scale structures, the classical analysis in terms of structure functions may prove to be unsuccessful in detecting the power-law behavior in the inertial range, and may underestimate the scaling exponents. However, the Hilbert spectral method provides an optimal estimation of the scaling exponents, which have been found to be close to those for velocity fluctuations in fully developed hydrodynamic turbulence. At smaller scales, below the proton gyroscale, the system loses its intermittent multiscaling properties and converges to a monofractal process. The resulting scaling exponents, obtained at small scales, are in good agreement with those of classical fractional Brownian motion, indicating a long-term memory in the process, and the absence of correlations around the spectral-break scale. These results provide important constraints on models of kinetic-range turbulence in the solar wind.

The solar wind neon abundance observed with ACE/SWICS and ULYSSES/SWICS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shearer, Paul; Raines, Jim M.; Lepri, Susan T.; Thomas, Jonathan W.; Gilbert, Jason A.; Landi, Enrico; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.; Von Steiger, Rudolf

2014-01-01

Using in situ ion spectrometry data from ACE/SWICS, we determine the solar wind Ne/O elemental abundance ratio and examine its dependence on wind speed and evolution with the solar cycle. We find that Ne/O is inversely correlated with wind speed, is nearly constant in the fast wind, and correlates strongly with solar activity in the slow wind. In fast wind streams with speeds above 600 km s –1 , we find Ne/O = 0.10 ± 0.02, in good agreement with the extensive polar observations by Ulysses/SWICS. In slow wind streams with speeds below 400 km s –1 , Ne/O ranges from a low of 0.12 ± 0.02 at solar maximum to a high of 0.17 ± 0.03 at solar minimum. These measurements place new and significant empirical constraints on the fractionation mechanisms governing solar wind composition and have implications for the coronal and photospheric abundances of neon and oxygen. The results are made possible by a new data analysis method that robustly identifies rare elements in the measured ion spectra. The method is also applied to Ulysses/SWICS data, which confirms the ACE observations and extends our view of solar wind neon into the three-dimensional heliosphere.

The solar wind neon abundance observed with ACE/SWICS and ULYSSES/SWICS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shearer, Paul; Raines, Jim M.; Lepri, Susan T.; Thomas, Jonathan W.; Gilbert, Jason A.; Landi, Enrico; Zurbuchen, Thomas H. [Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Von Steiger, Rudolf [International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland)

2014-07-01

Using in situ ion spectrometry data from ACE/SWICS, we determine the solar wind Ne/O elemental abundance ratio and examine its dependence on wind speed and evolution with the solar cycle. We find that Ne/O is inversely correlated with wind speed, is nearly constant in the fast wind, and correlates strongly with solar activity in the slow wind. In fast wind streams with speeds above 600 km s{sup –1}, we find Ne/O = 0.10 ± 0.02, in good agreement with the extensive polar observations by Ulysses/SWICS. In slow wind streams with speeds below 400 km s{sup –1}, Ne/O ranges from a low of 0.12 ± 0.02 at solar maximum to a high of 0.17 ± 0.03 at solar minimum. These measurements place new and significant empirical constraints on the fractionation mechanisms governing solar wind composition and have implications for the coronal and photospheric abundances of neon and oxygen. The results are made possible by a new data analysis method that robustly identifies rare elements in the measured ion spectra. The method is also applied to Ulysses/SWICS data, which confirms the ACE observations and extends our view of solar wind neon into the three-dimensional heliosphere.

Wind-induced flow velocity effects on nutrient concentrations at Eastern Bay of Lake Taihu, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Jalil, Abdul; Li, Yiping; Du, Wei; Wang, Jianwei; Gao, Xiaomeng; Wang, Wencai; Acharya, Kumud

2017-07-01

Shallow lakes are highly sensitive to respond internal nutrient loading due to wind-induced flow velocity effects. Wind-induced flow velocity effects on nutrient suspension were investigated at a long narrow bay of large shallow Lake Taihu, the third largest freshwater lake in China. Wind-induced reverse/compensation flow and consistent flow field probabilities at vertical column of the water were measured. The probabilities between the wind field and the flow velocities provided a strong correlation at the surface (80.6%) and the bottom (65.1%) layers of water profile. Vertical flow velocity profile analysis provided the evidence of delay response time to wind field at the bottom layer of lake water. Strong wind field generated by the west (W) and west-north-west (WNW) winds produced displaced water movements in opposite directions to the prevailing flow field. An exponential correlation was observed between the current velocities of the surface and the bottom layers while considering wind speed as a control factor. A linear model was developed to correlate the wind field-induced flow velocity impacts on nutrient concentration at the surface and bottom layers. Results showed that dominant wind directions (ENE, E, and ESE) had a maximum nutrient resuspension contribution (nutrient resuspension potential) of 34.7 and 43.6% at the surface and the bottom profile layers, respectively. Total suspended solids (TSS), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) average concentrations were 6.38, 1.5, and 0.03 mg/L during our field experiment at Eastern Bay of Lake Taihu. Overall, wind-induced low-to-moderate hydrodynamic disturbances contributed more in nutrient resuspension at Eastern Bay of Lake Taihu. The present study can be used to understand the linkage between wind-induced flow velocities and nutrient concentrations for shallow lakes (with uniform morphology and deep margins) water quality management and to develop further models.

A GENERALIZED TWO-COMPONENT MODEL OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE AND AB INITIO DIFFUSION MEAN-FREE PATHS AND DRIFT LENGTHSCALES OF COSMIC RAYS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiengarten, T.; Fichtner, H.; Kleimann, J.; Scherer, K. [Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany); Oughton, S. [Department of Mathematics, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240 (New Zealand); Engelbrecht, N. E. [Center for Space Research, North-West University, Potchefstroom 2520 (South Africa)

2016-12-10

We extend a two-component model for the evolution of fluctuations in the solar wind plasma so that it is fully three-dimensional (3D) and also coupled self-consistently to the large-scale magnetohydrodynamic equations describing the background solar wind. The two classes of fluctuations considered are a high-frequency parallel-propagating wave-like piece and a low-frequency quasi-two-dimensional component. For both components, the nonlinear dynamics is dominanted by quasi-perpendicular spectral cascades of energy. Driving of the fluctuations by, for example, velocity shear and pickup ions is included. Numerical solutions to the new model are obtained using the Cronos framework, and validated against previous simpler models. Comparing results from the new model with spacecraft measurements, we find improved agreement relative to earlier models that employ prescribed background solar wind fields. Finally, the new results for the wave-like and quasi-two-dimensional fluctuations are used to calculate ab initio diffusion mean-free paths and drift lengthscales for the transport of cosmic rays in the turbulent solar wind.

A GENERALIZED TWO-COMPONENT MODEL OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE AND AB INITIO DIFFUSION MEAN-FREE PATHS AND DRIFT LENGTHSCALES OF COSMIC RAYS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiengarten, T.; Fichtner, H.; Kleimann, J.; Scherer, K.; Oughton, S.; Engelbrecht, N. E.

2016-01-01

We extend a two-component model for the evolution of fluctuations in the solar wind plasma so that it is fully three-dimensional (3D) and also coupled self-consistently to the large-scale magnetohydrodynamic equations describing the background solar wind. The two classes of fluctuations considered are a high-frequency parallel-propagating wave-like piece and a low-frequency quasi-two-dimensional component. For both components, the nonlinear dynamics is dominanted by quasi-perpendicular spectral cascades of energy. Driving of the fluctuations by, for example, velocity shear and pickup ions is included. Numerical solutions to the new model are obtained using the Cronos framework, and validated against previous simpler models. Comparing results from the new model with spacecraft measurements, we find improved agreement relative to earlier models that employ prescribed background solar wind fields. Finally, the new results for the wave-like and quasi-two-dimensional fluctuations are used to calculate ab initio diffusion mean-free paths and drift lengthscales for the transport of cosmic rays in the turbulent solar wind.

The Yaglom law in the expanding solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gogoberidze, G.; Perri, S.; Carbone, V.

2013-01-01

We study the Yaglom law, which relates the mixed third-order structure function to the average dissipation rate of turbulence, in a uniformly expanding solar wind by using the two-scale expansion model of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. We show that due to the expansion of the solar wind, two new terms appear in the Yaglom law. The first term is related to the decay of the turbulent energy by nonlinear interactions, whereas the second term is related to the non-zero cross-correlation of the Elsässer fields. Using magnetic field and plasma data from WIND and Helios 2 spacecrafts, we show that at lower frequencies in the inertial range of MHD turbulence the new terms become comparable to Yaglom's third-order mixed moment, and therefore they cannot be neglected in the evaluation of the energy cascade rate in the solar wind.

On Lunar Exospheric Column Densities and Solar Wind Access Beyond the Terminator from ROSAT Soft X-Ray Observations of Solar Wind Charge Exchange

Science.gov (United States)

Collier, Michael R.; Snowden, S. L.; Sarantos, M.; Benna, M.; Carter, J. A.; Cravens, T. E.; Farrell, W. M.; Fatemi, S.; Hills, H. Kent; Hodges, R. R.;

AUTOMATIC DETECTION ALGORITHM OF DYNAMIC PRESSURE PULSES IN THE SOLAR WIND

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuo, Pingbing; Feng, Xueshang; Wang, Yi; Xie, Yanqiong; Li, Huijun; Xu, Xiaojun

2015-01-01

Dynamic pressure pulses (DPPs) in the solar wind are a significant phenomenon closely related to the solar-terrestrial connection and physical processes of solar wind dynamics. In order to automatically identify DPPs from solar wind measurements, we develop a procedure with a three-step detection algorithm that is able to rapidly select DPPs from the plasma data stream and simultaneously define the transition region where large dynamic pressure variations occur and demarcate the upstream and downstream region by selecting the relatively quiet status before and after the abrupt change in dynamic pressure. To demonstrate the usefulness, efficiency, and accuracy of this procedure, we have applied it to the Wind observations from 1996 to 2008 by successfully obtaining the DPPs. The procedure can also be applied to other solar wind spacecraft observation data sets with different time resolutions

Wind tunnel and CFD modelling of wind pressures on solar energy systems on flat roofs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bronkhorst, A.J.; Franke, J.; Geurts, C.P.W.; Bentum, van C.A.; Grepinet, F.

2010-01-01

Design of solar energy mounting systems requires more knowledge on the wind patterns around these systems. To obtain more insight in the flow patterns, which cause the pressure distributions on the solar energy systems, a wind tunnel test and Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis have been

Wind loads on solar energy roofs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geurts, C.P.W.; Bentum, C.A. van

2007-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the wind loads on roofs, equipped with solar energy products, so called Active Roofs. Values given in this paper have been based on wind tunnel and full scale measurements, carried out at TNO, and on an interpretation of existing rules and guidelines. The results

Solar wind power electric plant on Vis (Croatia)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

A project of a solar photovoltaic electric power plant presented by the Republic of Croatia at the meeting of the E.P.I.A. Mission for photovoltaic technology of the Mediterranean countries, aroused a great interest of the representatives of the invited countries. However, the interest within Croatia in the project has disappeared although E.P.I.A. offered a financing of two thirds of costs. There are attempts to construct 1800 kw wind-driven generators at the same location not taking into consideration a possibility of building a hybrid solar-wind-power electric plant. The chance that the solar part is completely of domestic origin is not accepted but the preference is given to the building of imported wind-driven generators. (orig.)

INERTIAL RANGE TURBULENCE OF FAST AND SLOW SOLAR WIND AT 0.72 AU AND SOLAR MINIMUM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teodorescu, Eliza; Echim, Marius; Munteanu, Costel [Institute for Space Sciences, Măgurele (Romania); Zhang, Tielong [Space Research Institute, Graz (Austria); Bruno, Roberto [INAF-IAPS, Istituto di Astrofizica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome (Italy); Kovacs, Peter, E-mail: eliteo@spacescience.ro [Geological and Geophysical Institute of Hungary, Budapest (Hungary)

2015-05-10

We investigate Venus Express observations of magnetic field fluctuations performed systematically in the solar wind at 0.72 Astronomical Units (AU), between 2007 and 2009, during the deep minimum of solar cycle 24. The power spectral densities (PSDs) of the magnetic field components have been computed for time intervals that satisfy the data integrity criteria and have been grouped according to the type of wind, fast and slow, defined for speeds larger and smaller, respectively, than 450 km s{sup −1}. The PSDs show higher levels of power for the fast wind than for the slow. The spectral slopes estimated for all PSDs in the frequency range 0.005–0.1 Hz exhibit a normal distribution. The average value of the trace of the spectral matrix is −1.60 for fast solar wind and −1.65 for slow wind. Compared to the corresponding average slopes at 1 AU, the PSDs are shallower at 0.72 AU for slow wind conditions suggesting a steepening of the solar wind spectra between Venus and Earth. No significant time variation trend is observed for the spectral behavior of both the slow and fast wind.

The Character of the Solar Wind, Surface Interactions, and Water

Science.gov (United States)

Farrell, William M.

2011-01-01

We discuss the key characteristics of the proton-rich solar wind and describe how it may interact with the lunar surface. We suggest that solar wind can be both a source and loss of water/OH related volatiles, and review models showing both possibilities. Energy from the Sun in the form of radiation and solar wind plasma are in constant interaction with the lunar surface. As such, there is a solar-lunar energy connection, where solar energy and matter are continually bombarding the lunar surface, acting at the largest scale to erode the surface at 0.2 Angstroms per year via ion sputtering [1]. Figure 1 illustrates this dynamically Sun-Moon system.

Solar Wind Electron Scattering by Kinetic Instabilities and Whistler Turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Gary, S. P.

2015-12-01

The expansion of the solar wind away from the Sun drives electron velocity distributions away from the thermal Maxwellian form, yielding distributions near 1 AU which typically can be characterized as consisting of three anisotropic components: a more dense, relatively cool core, a relatively tenuous , relatively warm halo and a similarly tenuous, warm strahl. Each of these nonthermal components are potential sources of kinetic plasma instabilities; the enhanced waves from each instability can scatter the electrons, acting to reduce the various anisotropies and making their overall velocity distribution more nearly (but not completely) thermal. In contrast, simulations are demonstrating that the forward decay of whistler turbulence can lead to the development of a T||> T_perp electron anisotropy. This presentation will review linear theories of electron-driven kinetic instabilities (following the presentation by Daniel Verscharen at the 2015 SHINE Workshop), and will further consider the modification of electron velocity distributions as obtained from particle-in-cell simulations of such instabilities as well as from the decay of whistler turbulence.

LONG-TERM TRENDS IN THE SOLAR WIND PROTON MEASUREMENTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliott, Heather A.; McComas, David J. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); DeForest, Craig E. [Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO (United States)

2016-11-20

We examine the long-term time evolution (1965–2015) of the relationships between solar wind proton temperature ( T {sub p}) and speed ( V {sub p}) and between the proton density ( n {sub p}) and speed using OMNI solar wind observations taken near Earth. We find a long-term decrease in the proton temperature–speed ( T {sub p}– V {sub p}) slope that lasted from 1972 to 2010, but has been trending upward since 2010. Since the solar wind proton density–speed ( n {sub p}– V {sub p}) relationship is not linear like the T {sub p}– V {sub p} relationship, we perform power-law fits for n {sub p}– V {sub p}. The exponent (steepness in the n {sub p}– V {sub p} relationship) is correlated with the solar cycle. This exponent has a stronger correlation with current sheet tilt angle than with sunspot number because the sunspot number maxima vary considerably from cycle to cycle and the tilt angle maxima do not. To understand this finding, we examined the average n {sub p} for different speed ranges, and found that for the slow wind n {sub p} is highly correlated with the sunspot number, with a lag of approximately four years. The fast wind n {sub p} variation was less, but in phase with the cycle. This phase difference may contribute to the n {sub p}– V {sub p} exponent correlation with the solar cycle. These long-term trends are important since empirical formulas based on fits to T {sub p} and V {sub p} data are commonly used to identify interplanetary coronal mass ejections, but these formulas do not include any time dependence. Changes in the solar wind density over a solar cycle will create corresponding changes in the near-Earth space environment and the overall extent of the heliosphere.

Kinetic and Potential Sputtering Enhancements of Lunar Regolith Erosion: The Contribution of the Heavy Multicharged (Minority) Solar Wind Constituents

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, F. W.; Barghouty, A. F.

2012-01-01

We report preliminary results for H+, Ar+1, Ar+6 and Ar+9 ion sputtering of JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant at solar wind velocities, obtain ed at the ORNL Multicharged Ion Research Facility using quadrupole ma ss spectrometry. The multi-charged Ar ions were used as proxies for i ntermediate mass solar wind multicharged ions. Prior to the Ar beam e xposures, the sample was exposed to high fluence H+ irradiation to si mulate H-loading due to the dominant solar wind constituent. A x80 en hancement of oxygen sputtering by Ar+ over same velocity H+ was measu red and an additional x2 increase for Ar+9 over same velocity Ar+ was demonstrated, giving clear evidence of the importance of potential s puttering by multicharged ions. This enhancement was observed to pers ist to the maximum fluences investigated (approx 10(exp 16)/sq cm). As discussed in a companion abstract by N. Barghouty, such persistent s puttering enhancement has significant implications on weathering and aging of lunar regolith. In addition, XPS measurements showed strong evidence of Fe reduction for those target areas that had been exposed to high fluence Ar+ and Ar+8 beams. Preferential oxidation of the Fe -reduced beam-exposed regions during transfer to the XPS system led t o enhanced O concentrations in those regions as well. On the basis of these very promising preliminary results, a NASA-LASER project on mo re extensive measurements was recently selected for funding. The prop osal expands the collaboration with NASA-MSFC for the simulation effort, and adds a new collaboration with NASA-GSFC for lunar mission-rele vant measurements.

Solar-wind interactions with the Moon: nature and composition of nitrogen compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mukherjee, N.R.

1981-01-01

The lunar atmosphere and magnetic field are very tenuous. The solar wind, therefore, interacts directly with the lunar surface material and the dominant nature of interaction is essentially complete absorption of solar-wind particles by the surface material resulting in no upstream bowshock, but a cavity downstream. The solar-wind nitrogen ion species induce and undergo a complex set of reactions with the elements of lunar material and the solar-wind-derived trapped elements. The nitrogen concentration indigeneous to the lunar surface material is practically nil. Therefore any nitrogen and nitrogen compounds found in the lunar surface material are due to the solar-wind implantation of nitrogen ions. The flux of the solar-wind nitrogen ion species is about 6 X 10 3 cm -2 s -1 . Since there is no evidence for accumulation of nitrogen species in the lunar surface material, the outflux of nitrogen species from the lunar material to the atmosphere is the same as the solar-wind nitrogen ion flux. The species of the outflux are primarily NO and NH 3 , and their respective concentrations in the near surface lunar atmosphere are found to be 327 and 295 cm -3 . (Auth.)

Cometary X-rays : solar wind charge exchange in cometary atmospheres

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bodewits, Dennis

2007-01-01

The interaction of the solar wind with the planets and the interstellar medium is of key importance for the evolution of our solar system. The interaction with Earth's atmosphere is best known for the northern light. In case of Mars, the interaction with the solar wind might have lead to the erosion

Air emissions due to wind and solar power.

Science.gov (United States)

Katzenstein, Warren; Apt, Jay

2009-01-15

Renewables portfolio standards (RPS) encourage large-scale deployment of wind and solar electric power. Their power output varies rapidly, even when several sites are added together. In many locations, natural gas generators are the lowest cost resource available to compensate for this variability, and must ramp up and down quickly to keep the grid stable, affecting their emissions of NOx and CO2. We model a wind or solar photovoltaic plus gas system using measured 1-min time-resolved emissions and heat rate data from two types of natural gas generators, and power data from four wind plants and one solar plant. Over a wide range of renewable penetration, we find CO2 emissions achieve approximately 80% of the emissions reductions expected if the power fluctuations caused no additional emissions. Using steam injection, gas generators achieve only 30-50% of expected NOx emissions reductions, and with dry control NOx emissions increase substantially. We quantify the interaction between state RPSs and NOx constraints, finding that states with substantial RPSs could see significant upward pressure on NOx permit prices, if the gas turbines we modeled are representative of the plants used to mitigate wind and solar power variability.

Spectral Analysis of Geomagnetic Activity Indices and Solar Wind Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jung-Hee Kim

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Solar variability is widely known to affect the interplanetary space and in turn the Earth’s electromagnetical environment on the basis of common periodicities in the solar and geomagnetic activity indices. The goal of this study is twofold. Firstly, we attempt to associate modes by comparing a temporal behavior of the power of geomagnetic activity parameters since it is barely sufficient searching for common peaks with a similar periodicity in order to causally correlate geomagnetic activity parameters. As a result of the wavelet transform analysis we are able to obtain information on the temporal behavior of the power in the velocity of the solar wind, the number density of protons in the solar wind, the AE index, the Dst index, the interplanetary magnetic field, B and its three components of the GSM coordinate system, BX, BY, BZ. Secondly, we also attempt to search for any signatures of influence on the space environment near the Earth by inner planets orbiting around the Sun. Our main findings are as follows: (1 Parameters we have investigated show periodicities of ~ 27 days, ~ 13.5 days, ~ 9 days. (2 The peaks in the power spectrum of BZ appear to be split due to an unknown agent. (3 For some modes powers are not present all the time and intervals showing high powers do not always coincide. (4 Noticeable peaks do not emerge at those frequencies corresponding to the synodic and/or sidereal periods of Mercury and Venus, which leads us to conclude that the Earth’s space environment is not subject to the shadow of the inner planets as suggested earlier.

Solar origins of solar wind properties during the cycle 23 solar minimum and rising phase of cycle 24

Science.gov (United States)

Luhmann, Janet G.; Petrie, Gordon; Riley, Pete

2012-01-01

The solar wind was originally envisioned using a simple dipolar corona/polar coronal hole sources picture, but modern observations and models, together with the recent unusual solar cycle minimum, have demonstrated the limitations of this picture. The solar surface fields in both polar and low-to-mid-latitude active region zones routinely produce coronal magnetic fields and related solar wind sources much more complex than a dipole. This makes low-to-mid latitude coronal holes and their associated streamer boundaries major contributors to what is observed in the ecliptic and affects the Earth. In this paper we use magnetogram-based coronal field models to describe the conditions that prevailed in the corona from the decline of cycle 23 into the rising phase of cycle 24. The results emphasize the need for adopting new views of what is ‘typical’ solar wind, even when the Sun is relatively inactive. PMID:25685422

ESTABLISHING A CONNECTION BETWEEN ACTIVE REGION OUTFLOWS AND THE SOLAR WIND: ABUNDANCE MEASUREMENTS WITH EIS/HINODE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brooks, David H.; Warren, Harry P.

2011-01-01

One of the most interesting discoveries from Hinode is the presence of persistent high-temperature high-speed outflows from the edges of active regions (ARs). EUV imaging spectrometer (EIS) measurements indicate that the outflows reach velocities of 50 km s -1 with spectral line asymmetries approaching 200 km s -1 . It has been suggested that these outflows may lie on open field lines that connect to the heliosphere, and that they could potentially be a significant source of the slow speed solar wind. A direct link has been difficult to establish, however. We use EIS measurements of spectral line intensities that are sensitive to changes in the relative abundance of Si and S as a result of the first ionization potential (FIP) effect, to measure the chemical composition in the outflow regions of AR 10978 over a 5 day period in 2007 December. We find that Si is always enhanced over S by a factor of 3-4. This is generally consistent with the enhancement factor of low FIP elements measured in situ in the slow solar wind by non-spectroscopic methods. Plasma with a slow wind-like composition was therefore flowing from the edge of the AR for at least 5 days. Furthermore, on December 10 and 11, when the outflow from the western side was favorably oriented in the Earth direction, the Si/S ratio was found to match the value measured a few days later by the Advanced Composition Explorer/Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer. These results provide strong observational evidence for a direct connection between the solar wind, and the coronal plasma in the outflow regions.

Solar Wind Charge Exchange During Geomagnetic Storms

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Ina P.; Cravens, Thomas E.; Sibeck, David G.; Collier, Michael R.; Kuntz, K. D.

2012-01-01

On March 31st. 2001, a coronal mass ejection pushed the subsolar magnetopause to the vicinity of geosynchronous orbit at 6.6 RE. The NASA/GSFC Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMe) employed a global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model to simulate the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction during the peak of this geomagnetic storm. Robertson et aL then modeled the expected 50ft X-ray emission due to solar wind charge exchange with geocoronal neutrals in the dayside cusp and magnetosheath. The locations of the bow shock, magnetopause and cusps were clearly evident in their simulations. Another geomagnetic storm took place on July 14, 2000 (Bastille Day). We again modeled X-ray emission due to solar wind charge exchange, but this time as observed from a moving spacecraft. This paper discusses the impact of spacecraft location on observed X-ray emission and the degree to which the locations of the bow shock and magnetopause can be detected in images.

Distributed Wind Cost Reduction: Learning from Solar

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tegen, Suzanne

2016-02-23

The distributed wind energy industry can learn several lessons from the solar industry regarding reducing soft costs. Suzanne Tegen presented this overview at the 2016 Distributed Wind Energy Association Business Conference in Washington, D.C., on February 23, 2016.

Agua Caliente Wind/Solar Project at Whitewater Ranch

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hooks, Todd [Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Palm Springs, CA (United States); Stewart, Royce [Red Mountain Energy Partners, Sante Fe, NM (United States)

2014-12-16

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (ACBCI) was awarded a grant by the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the feasibility of a wind and/or solar renewable energy project at the Whitewater Ranch (WWR) property of ACBCI. Red Mountain Energy Partners (RMEP) was engaged to conduct the study. The ACBCI tribal lands in the Coachella Valley have very rich renewable energy resources. The tribe has undertaken several studies to more fully understand the options available to them if they were to move forward with one or more renewable energy projects. With respect to the resources, the WWR property clearly has excellent wind and solar resources. The DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has continued to upgrade and refine their library of resource maps. The newer, more precise maps quantify the resources as among the best in the world. The wind and solar technology available for deployment is also being improved. Both are reducing their costs to the point of being at or below the costs of fossil fuels. Technologies for energy storage and microgrids are also improving quickly and present additional ways to increase the wind and/or solar energy retained for later use with the network management flexibility to provide power to the appropriate locations when needed. As a result, renewable resources continue to gain more market share. The transitioning to renewables as the major resources for power will take some time as the conversion is complex and can have negative impacts if not managed well. While the economics for wind and solar systems continue to improve, the robustness of the WWR site was validated by the repeated queries of developers to place wind and/or solar there. The robust resources and improving technologies portends toward WWR land as a renewable energy site. The business case, however, is not so clear, especially when the potential investment portfolio for ACBCI has several very beneficial and profitable alternatives.

ALFVEN WAVE REFLECTION AND TURBULENT HEATING IN THE SOLAR WIND FROM 1 SOLAR RADIUS TO 1 AU: AN ANALYTICAL TREATMENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chandran, Benjamin D. G.; Hollweg, Joseph V.

2009-01-01

We study the propagation, reflection, and turbulent dissipation of Alfven waves in coronal holes and the solar wind. We start with the Heinemann-Olbert equations, which describe non-compressive magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in an inhomogeneous medium with a background flow parallel to the background magnetic field. Following the approach of Dmitruk et al., we model the nonlinear terms in these equations using a simple phenomenology for the cascade and dissipation of wave energy and assume that there is much more energy in waves propagating away from the Sun than waves propagating toward the Sun. We then solve the equations analytically for waves with periods of hours and longer to obtain expressions for the wave amplitudes and turbulent heating rate as a function of heliocentric distance. We also develop a second approximate model that includes waves with periods of roughly one minute to one hour, which undergo less reflection than the longer-period waves, and compare our models to observations. Our models generalize the phenomenological model of Dmitruk et al. by accounting for the solar wind velocity, so that the turbulent heating rate can be evaluated from the coronal base out past the Alfven critical point-that is, throughout the region in which most of the heating and acceleration occurs. The simple analytical expressions that we obtain can be used to incorporate Alfven-wave reflection and turbulent heating into fluid models of the solar wind.

Solar and wind exergy potentials for Mars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delgado-Bonal, Alfonso; Martín-Torres, F. Javier; Vázquez-Martín, Sandra; Zorzano, María-Paz

2016-01-01

The energy requirements of the planetary exploration spacecrafts constrain the lifetime of the missions, their mobility and capabilities, and the number of instruments onboard. They are limiting factors in planetary exploration. Several missions to the surface of Mars have proven the feasibility and success of solar panels as energy source. The analysis of the exergy efficiency of the solar radiation has been carried out successfully on Earth, however, to date, there is not an extensive research regarding the thermodynamic exergy efficiency of in-situ renewable energy sources on Mars. In this paper, we analyse the obtainable energy (exergy) from solar radiation under Martian conditions. For this analysis we have used the surface environmental variables on Mars measured in-situ by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station onboard the Curiosity rover and from satellite by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer instrument onboard the Mars Global Surveyor satellite mission. We evaluate the exergy efficiency from solar radiation on a global spatial scale using orbital data for a Martian year; and in a one single location in Mars (the Gale crater) but with an appreciable temporal resolution (1 h). Also, we analyse the wind energy as an alternative source of energy for Mars exploration and compare the results with those obtained on Earth. We study the viability of solar and wind energy station for the future exploration of Mars, showing that a small square solar cell of 0.30 m length could maintain a meteorological station on Mars. We conclude that the low density of the atmosphere of Mars is responsible of the low thermal exergy efficiency of solar panels. It also makes the use of wind energy uneffective. Finally, we provide insights for the development of new solar cells on Mars. - Highlights: • We analyse the exergy of solar radiation under Martian environment • Real data from in-situ instruments is used to determine the maximum efficiency of radiation • Wind

Solar wind flows associated with hot heavy ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fenimore, E.E.

1980-05-01

Solar wind heavy ion spectra measured with the Vela instrumentation have been studied with the goal of determining the solar origins of various solar wind structures which contain anomalously high ionization states. Since the ionization states freeze-in close to the sun they are good indicators of the plasma conditions in the low and intermediate corona. Heavy ion spectra from three different periods throughout the solar cycle have been analyzed. These data are consistent with freezing-in temperatures ranging from approx. 1.5 x 10 6 K to higher than 9 x 10 6 . The spectra indicating hot coronal conditions occur in roughly 1/7 of all measurements and almost exclusively in postshock flows (PSFs), nonshock related helium abundance enhancements (HAEs), or noncompressive density enhancements (NCDEs). The PSFs and HAEs are both probably interplanetary manifestations of solar flares. The observation of several flare-related HAEs which were not preceded by an interplanetary shock suggests that the flare-heated plasma can evolve into the solar wind without producing a noticeable shock at 1 AU. The NCDEs with hot heavy ions differ from the PSF-HAEs in several ways implying that they evolve from events or places with lower temperatures and less energy than those associated with the flares, but with higher temperatures and densities than the quiet corona. Active regions, coronal mass ejections, and equatorial streamers are possible sources for the NCDEs with spectra indicating hot coronal conditions. These events owe their enhanced densities to coronal processes as opposed to interplanetary dynamical processes. Models of the solar wind expansion demonstrate how some NCDEs can have extreme, nonequilibrium ionization distributions

Solar wind modulation of the Martian ionosphere observed by Mars Global Surveyor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.-S. Wang

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Electron density profiles in the Martian ionosphere observed by the radio occultation experiment on board Mars Global Surveyor have been analyzed to determine if the densities are influenced by the solar wind. Evidence is presented that the altitude of the maximum ionospheric electron density shows a positive correlation to the energetic proton flux in the solar wind. The solar wind modulation of the Martian ionosphere can be attributed to heating of the neutral atmosphere by the solar wind energetic proton precipitation. The modulation is observed to be most prominent at high solar zenith angles. It is argued that this is consistent with the proposed modulation mechanism.

Features in the Behavior of the Solar Wind behind the Bow Shock Front near the Boundary of the Earth's Magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Grib, S. A.; Leora, S. N.

2017-12-01

Macroscopic discontinuous structures observed in the solar wind are considered in the framework of magnetic hydrodynamics. The interaction of strong discontinuities is studied based on the solution of the generalized Riemann-Kochin problem. The appearance of discontinuities inside the magnetosheath after the collision of the solar wind shock wave with the bow shock front is taken into account. The propagation of secondary waves appearing in the magnetosheath is considered in the approximation of one-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamics. The appearance of a compression wave reflected from the magnetopause is indicated. The wave can nonlinearly break with the formation of a backward shock wave and cause the motion of the bow shock towards the Sun. The interaction between shock waves is considered with the well-known trial calculation method. It is assumed that the velocity of discontinuities in the magnetosheath in the first approximation is constant on the average. All reasonings and calculations correspond to consideration of a flow region with a velocity less than the magnetosonic speed near the Earth-Sun line. It is indicated that the results agree with the data from observations carried out on the WIND and Cluster spacecrafts.

VISCOUS-LIKE INTERACTION OF THE SOLAR WIND WITH THE PLASMA TAIL OF COMET SWIFT-TUTTLE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reyes-Ruiz, Mauricio; Vazquez, Roberto; Perez-de-Tejada, Hector

2010-01-01

We compare the results of the numerical simulation of the viscous-like interaction of the solar wind with the plasma tail of a comet, with velocities of H 2 O+ ions in the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle determined by means of spectroscopic ground-based observations. Our aim is to constrain the value of the basic parameters in the viscous-like interaction model: the effective Reynolds number of the flow and the interspecies coupling timescale. We find that in our simulations the flow rapidly evolves from an arbitrary initial condition to a quasi-steady state for which there is a good agreement between the simulated tailward velocity of H 2 O+ ions and the kinematics derived from the observations. The fiducial case of our model, characterized by a low effective Reynolds number (Re eff ∼ 20) selected on the basis of a comparison to in situ measurements of the plasma flow at comet Halley, yields an excellent fit to the observed kinematics. Given the agreement between model and observations, with no ad hoc assumptions, we believe that this result suggests that viscous-like momentum transport may play an important role in the interaction of the solar wind and the cometary plasma environment.

Diamagnetic effect in the foremoon solar wind observed by Kaguya

Science.gov (United States)

Nishino, Masaki N.; Saito, Yoshifumi; Tsunakawa, Hideo; Miyake, Yohei; Harada, Yuki; Yokota, Shoichiro; Takahashi, Futoshi; Matsushima, Masaki; Shibuya, Hidetoshi; Shimizu, Hisayoshi

2017-04-01

Direct interaction between the lunar surface and incident solar wind is one of the crucial phenomena of the planetary plasma sciences. Recent observations by lunar orbiters revealed that strength of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) at spacecraft altitude often increases over crustal magnetic fields on the dayside. In addition, variations of the IMF on the lunar night side have been reported in the viewpoint of diamagnetic effect around the lunar wake. However, few studies have been performed for the IMF over non-magnetized regions on the dayside. Here we show an event where strength of the IMF decreases at 100 km altitude on the lunar dayside (i.e. in the foremoon solar wind) when the IMF is almost parallel to the incident solar wind flow, comparing the upstream solar wind data from ACE with Kaguya magnetometer data. The lunar surface below the Kaguya orbit is not magnetized (or very weakly magnetized), and the sunward-travelling protons show signatures of those back-scattered at the lunar surface. We find that the decrease in the magnetic pressure is compensated by the thermal pressure of the back-scattered protons. In other words, the IMF strength in the foremoon solar wind decreases by diamagnetic effect of sunward-travelling protons back-scattered at the lunar dayside surface. Such an effect would be prominent in the high-beta solar wind, and may be ubiquitous in the environment where planetary surface directly interacts with surrounding space plasma.

Estimated solar wind-implanted helium-3 distribution on the Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, J. R.; Swindle, T.D.; Lucey, P.G.

1999-01-01

Among the solar wind-implanted volatiles present in the lunar regolith, 3 He is possibly the most valuable resource because of its potential as a fusion fuel. The abundance of 3 He in the lunar regolith at a given location depends on surface maturity, the amount of solar wind fluence, and titanium content, because ilmenite (FeTiO3) retains helium much better than other major lunar minerals. Surface maturity and TiO2 maps from Clementine multispectral data sets are combined here with a solar wind fluence model to produce a 3He abundance map of the Moon. Comparison of the predicted 3He values to landing site observations shows good correlation. The highest 3He abundances occur in the farside maria (due to greater solar wind fluence received) and in higher TiO2 nearside mare regions.

Electron heat flux instabilities in the solar wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gary, S.P.; Feldman, W.C.; Forslund, D.W.; Montgomery, M.D.

1975-01-01

There are at least three plasma instabilities associated with the electron heat flux in the solar wind. This letter reports the study of the unstable fast magnetosonic, Alfven and whistler modes via a computer code which solves the full electromagnetic, linear, Vlasov dispersion relation. Linear theory demonstrates that both the magnetosonic and Alfven instabilities are candidates for turbulent limitation of the heat flux in the solar wind at 1 A.U

Solar wind conditions for a quiet magnetosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kerns, K.J.; Gussenhoven, M.S.

1990-01-01

The conditions of the solar wind that lead to a quiet magnetosphere are determined under the assumption that the quiet or baseline magnetosphere can be identified by prolonged periods of low values of the am index. The authors analyzed solar wind data from 1978 to 1984 (7 years) during periods in which am ≤ 3 nT to identify those solar wind parameters that deviate significantly from average values. Parallel studies were also performed for prolonged periods of Kp = 0, 0+ and AE z ) show distinctive variations from average values. They independently varied these solar wind parameters and the length of time the conditions must persist to minimize am. This was done with the additional requirement that the conditions yield a reasonable number of occurrences (5% of the data set). The resulting baseline conditions are V ≤ 390 km/s; 180 degree - arctan |B y /B z | ≤ 101 degree, when b z ≤ 0 (no restriction on B z positive); B ≤ 6.5 nT; and persistence of these conditions for at least 5 hours. Minimizing the am index does not require a clear upper limit on the value of B z as might be anticipated from the work of Gussenhoven (1988) and Berthelier (1980). Apparently, this is a result of the requirement that the conditions must occur 5% of the time. When the requirement is lowered to 1% occurrence, an upper limit to B z emerges

Does the magnetic expansion factor (fs) play a role in solar wind acceleration?

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Samantha; Arge, Charles N.; Pihlstrom, Ylva

2017-08-01

For the past 25 years, magnetic expansion factor (fs) has been a key parameter used in the calculation of terminal solar wind speed (vsw) in both the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) model and its predecessor the Wang-Sheeley (WS) model. Since the discovery of an inverse relationship between fs and vsw, the physical role that magnetic expansion factor plays in the acceleration of the solar wind has been explored and debated. In this study, we investigate whether magnetic expansion factor plays a causal role in determining the terminal speed of the solar wind or merely serves as proxy. To do so, we explore how fs, as determined by WSA, relates to vsw for two different scenarios: 1) extended periods where the fast solar wind emerges from the centers of large coronal holes, and 2) periods where the solar wind emerges from pseudostreamers. For these same scenarios, we will also consider an alternative empirical relationship between solar wind speed and the minimum angular distance at the photosphere of a solar wind source to the nearest coronal hole boundary (i.e., DCHB, θb). We then compare these two different prediction techniques directly with heliospheric observations (i.e., ACE, STEREO-A & B, Ulysses) of solar wind speed to determine whether one clearly out performs the other.

The effect of asymmetric solar wind on the Lyman α sky background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joselyn, J.A.; Holzer, T.E.

1975-01-01

The Lyman α (Ly α) sky background arises from the scattering of solar Ly α from a spatial distribution of neutral hydrogen in interplanetary space. This distribution is partially determined by the solar wind proton flux, which provides the principal mechanism of loss by charge exchange of the neutral hydrogen. By generating isophotal maps of scattered Ly α for several choices of interstellar wind direction and solar wind proton flux distributions, the results show that latitudinal variations of the solar wind proton flux can have a significant effect on the observed location and shape of the Ly α intensity maximum. This fact should aid in the interpretation of Ly α maps and also indicates a possible method for inferring values for the average solar wind proton flux out of the ecliptic plane

Preferred solar wind emitting longitudes on the sun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gosling, J.T.; Asbridge, J.R.; Bame, S.J.; Feldman, W.C.

1977-01-01

During the 11 1/2-year period from July 1964 through December 1975, high- and low-speed solar wind flows originated from preferred solar longitudes. The preferred longitude effect was most pronounced from 1970 onward but was also evident in the years preceding 1970. The most pronounced modulation in average solar wind speed with longitude (approximately 20%) was obtained when it was assumed that the synodic rotation period of the sun is 27.025 days. Some deep internal structure in the sun must ultmately be responsible for these long-lived longitudinal effects, which appear to rotate rigidly with the sun

Multicriteria GIS modeling of wind and solar farms in Colorado

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janke, Jason R. [Metropolitan State College of Denver, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, CB 22 P.O. Box 173362-22, Denver, CO 80217-3362 (United States)

2010-10-15

The majority of electricity and heat in Colorado comes from coal and natural gas; however, renewable energy sources will play an integral role in the state's energy future. Colorado is the 11th windiest state and has more than 250 sunny days per year. The objectives of this research are to: 1) determine which landcover classes are affiliated with high wind and solar potential; and 2) identify areas that are suitable for wind and solar farms using multicriteria GIS modelling techniques. Renewable potential (NREL wind speed measurements at 50 m above the ground and NREL annual insolation data), landcover, population density, federal lands, and distance to roads, transmission lines, and cities were reclassified according to their suitability. Each was assigned weights based on their relative importance to one another. Superb wind classes are located in high alpine areas. Unfortunately, these areas are not suitable for large-scale wind farm development due to their inaccessibility and location within a sensitive ecosystem. Federal lands have low wind potential. According to the GIS model, ideal areas for wind farm development are located in northeastern Colorado. About 41 850 km{sup 2} of the state has model scores that are in the 90-100% range. Although annual solar radiation varies slightly, inter-mountain areas receive the most insolation. As far as federal lands, Indian reservations have the greatest solar input. The GIS model indicates that ideal areas for solar development are located in northwestern Colorado and east of Denver. Only 191 km{sup 2} of the state had model scores that were in the 90-100% range. These results suggest that the variables used in this analysis have more of an effect at eliminating non-suitable areas for large-scale solar farms; a greater area exists for suitable wind farms. However, given the statewide high insolation values with minimal variance, solar projects may be better suited for small-scale residential or commercial

Cause of solar wind speed variations observed at 1 a.u

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hakamada, K.; Akasofu, S.

1981-01-01

An attempt is made to interpret solar wind variations observed at the earth's distance, namely the solar cycle variations, the semi-annual variations, and the 27-day variations, as well as the polarity changes of the interplanetary magnetic field, mainly in terms of two effects, a positive latitudinal gradient of the solar wind speed and a wobbling solar dipole, combined with the annual (heliospheric) latitudinal excursion of the earth. It is shown that a significant part of the solar wind variations observed at the earth's distance and the changes of polarity pattern of the interplanetary magnetic field can be reasonably well reproduced by the two effects

Potential for Development of Solar and Wind Resource in Bhutan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilman, P.; Cowlin, S.; Heimiller, D.

2009-09-01

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) produced maps and data of the wind and solar resources in Bhutan. The solar resource data show that Bhutan has an adequate resource for flat-plate collectors, with annual average values of global horizontal solar radiation ranging from 4.0 to 5.5 kWh/m2-day (4.0 to 5.5 peak sun hours per day). The information provided in this report may be of use to energy planners in Bhutan involved in developing energy policy or planning wind and solar projects, and to energy analysts around the world interested in gaining an understanding of Bhutan's wind and solar energy potential.

Application of Power Systems Economics to Wind and Solar Power Integration

OpenAIRE

Mills, Andrew David

2015-01-01

The focus of this dissertation is the economic implications of the technical challenges of integrating variable generation, namely wind and solar, into the electric power system. The research is organized around three topics: short-term variability of wind and solar generation, changes in the economic value of wind and solar with increasing penetration, and the effectiveness of different measures at mitigating changes in economic value with increasing penetration levels. Early studies of PV g...

Ulysses solar wind plasma observations at high southerly latitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, J L; Bame, S J; Feldman, W C; Gosling, J T; Hammond, C M; McComas, D J; Goldstein, B E; Neugebauer, M; Scime, E E; Suess, S T

1995-05-19

Solar wind plasma observations made by the Ulysses spacecraft through -80.2 degrees solar latitude and continuing equatorward to -40.1 degrees are summarized. Recurrent high-speed streams and corotating interaction regions dominated at middle latitudes. The speed of the solar wind was typically 700 to 800 kilometers per second poleward of -35 degrees . Corotating reverse shocks persisted farther south than did forward shocks because of the tilt of the heliomagnetic streamer belt. Sporadic coronal mass ejections were seen as far south as -60.5 degrees . Proton temperature was higher and the electron strahl was broader at higher latitudes. The high-latitude wind contained compressional, pressure-balanced, and Alfvénic structures.

Formation of Heliospheric Arcs of Slow Solar Wind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Higginson, A. K.; Zurbuchen, T. H. [Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Antiochos, S. K.; DeVore, C. R. [Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Wyper, P. F., E-mail: aleida@umich.edu [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

2017-05-01

A major challenge in solar and heliospheric physics is understanding the origin and nature of the so-called slow solar wind. The Sun’s atmosphere is divided into magnetically open regions, known as coronal holes, where the plasma streams out freely and fills the solar system, and closed regions, where the plasma is confined to coronal loops. The boundary between these regions extends outward as the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). Measurements of plasma composition strongly imply that much of the slow wind consists of plasma from the closed corona that escapes onto open field lines, presumably by field-line opening or by interchange reconnection. Both of these processes are expected to release closed-field plasma into the solar wind within and immediately adjacent to the HCS. Mysteriously, however, slow wind with closed-field plasma composition is often observed in situ far from the HCS. We use high-resolution, three-dimensional, magnetohydrodynamic simulations to calculate the dynamics of a coronal hole with a geometry that includes a narrow corridor flanked by closed field and is driven by supergranule-like flows at the coronal-hole boundary. These dynamics produce giant arcs of closed-field plasma that originate at the open-closed boundary in the corona, but extend far from the HCS and span tens of degrees in latitude and longitude at Earth. We conclude that such structures can account for the long-puzzling slow-wind observations.

CHARACTERIZATION OF TRANSITIONS IN THE SOLAR WIND PARAMETERS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perri, S.; Balogh, A.

2010-01-01

The distinction between fast and slow solar wind streams and the dynamically evolved interaction regions is reflected in the characteristic fluctuations of both the solar wind and the embedded magnetic field. High-resolution magnetic field data from the Ulysses spacecraft have been analyzed. The observations show rapid variations in the magnetic field components and in the magnetic field strength, suggesting a structured nature of the solar wind at small scales. The typical sizes of fluctuations cover a broad range. If translated to the solar surface, the scales span from the size of granules (∼10 3 km) and supergranules (∼10 4 km) on the Sun down to ∼10 2 km and less. The properties of the short time structures change in the different types of solar wind. While fluctuations in fast streams are more homogeneous, slow streams present a bursty behavior in the magnetic field variances, and the regions of transition are characterized by high levels of power in narrow structures around the transitions. The probability density functions of the magnetic field increments at several scales reveal a higher level of intermittency in the mixed streams, which is related to the presence of well localized features. It is concluded that, apart from the differences in the nature of fluctuations in flows of different coronal origin, there is a small-scale structuring that depends on the origin of streams themselves but it is also related to a bursty generation of the fluctuations.

A hybrid reconfigurable solar and wind energy system

Science.gov (United States)

Gadkari, Sagar A.

We study the feasibility of a novel hybrid solar-wind hybrid system that shares most of its infrastructure and components. During periods of clear sunny days the system will generate electricity from the sun using a parabolic concentrator. The concentrator is formed by individual mirror elements and focuses the light onto high intensity vertical multi-junction (VMJ) cells. During periods of high wind speeds and at night, the same concentrator setup will be reconfigured to channel the wind into a wind turbine which will be used to harness wind energy. In this study we report on the feasibility of this type of solar/wind hybrid energy system. The key mechanisms; optics, cooling mechanism of VMJ cells and air flow through the system were investigated using simulation tools. The results from these simulations, along with a simple economic analysis giving the levelized cost of energy for such a system are presented. An iterative method of design refinement based on the simulation results was used to work towards a prototype design. The levelized cost of the system achieved in the economic analysis shows the system to be a good alternative for a grid isolated site and could be used as a standalone system in regions of lower demand. The new approach to solar wind hybrid system reported herein will pave way for newer generation of hybrid systems that share common infrastructure in addition to the storage and distribution of energy.

Solar Wind Associated with Near Equatorial Coronal Hole M ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2015-05-25

May 25, 2015 ... coronal hole and solar wind. For both the wavelength bands, we also com- pute coronal hole radiative energy near the earth and it is found to be of similar order as that of solar wind energy. However, for the wavelength. 193 Å, owing to almost similar magnitudes of energy emitted by coronal hole and ...

Contribution of Strong Discontinuities to the Power Spectrum of the Solar Wind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borovsky, Joseph E.

2010-01-01

Eight and a half years of magnetic field measurements (2 22 samples) from the ACE spacecraft in the solar wind at 1 A.U. are analyzed. Strong (large-rotation-angle) discontinuities in the solar wind are collected and measured. An artificial time series is created that preserves the timing and amplitudes of the discontinuities. The power spectral density of the discontinuity series is calculated and compared with the power spectral density of the solar-wind magnetic field. The strong discontinuities produce a power-law spectrum in the ''inertial subrange'' with a spectral index near the Kolmogorov -5/3 index. The discontinuity spectrum contains about half of the power of the full solar-wind magnetic field over this ''inertial subrange.'' Warnings are issued about the significant contribution of discontinuities to the spectrum of the solar wind, complicating interpretation of spectral power and spectral indices.

An analytical investigation: Effect of solar wind on lunar photoelectron sheath

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, S. K.; Misra, Shikha

2018-02-01

The formation of a photoelectron sheath over the lunar surface and subsequent dust levitation, under the influence of solar wind plasma and continuous solar radiation, has been analytically investigated. The photoelectron sheath characteristics have been evaluated using the Poisson equation configured with population density contributions from half Fermi-Dirac distribution of the photoemitted electrons and simplified Maxwellian statistics of solar wind plasma; as a consequence, altitude profiles for electric potential, electric field, and population density within the photoelectron sheath have been derived. The expression for the accretion rate of sheath electrons over the levitated spherical particles using anisotropic photoelectron flux has been derived, which has been further utilized to characterize the charging of levitating fine particles in the lunar sheath along with other constituent photoemission and solar wind fluxes. This estimate of particle charge has been further manifested with lunar sheath characteristics to evaluate the altitude profile of the particle size exhibiting levitation. The inclusion of solar wind flux into analysis is noticed to reduce the sheath span and altitude of the particle levitation; the dependence of the sheath structure and particle levitation on the solar wind plasma parameters has been discussed and graphically presented.

Helioseismic measurements in the solar envelope using group velocities of surface waves

Science.gov (United States)

Vorontsov, S. V.; Baturin, V. A.; Ayukov, S. V.; Gryaznov, V. K.

2014-07-01

At intermediate- and high-degree l, solar p and f modes can be considered as surface waves. Using variational principle, we derive an integral expression for the group velocities of the surface waves in terms of adiabatic eigenfunctions of normal modes, and address the benefits of using group-velocity measurements as a supplementary diagnostic tool in solar seismology. The principal advantage of using group velocities, when compared with direct analysis of the oscillation frequencies, comes from their smaller sensitivity to the uncertainties in the near-photospheric layers. We address some numerical examples where group velocities are used to reveal inconsistencies between the solar models and the seismic data. Further, we implement the group-velocity measurements to the calibration of the specific entropy, helium abundance Y, and heavy-element abundance Z in the adiabatically stratified part of the solar convective envelope, using different recent versions of the equation of state. The results are in close agreement with our earlier measurements based on more sophisticated analysis of the solar oscillation frequencies. These results bring further support to the downward revision of the solar heavy-element abundances in recent spectroscopic measurements.