NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Global Network of Slow Solar WindThe streamer belt region surrounding the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is generally treated as the primary or sole source of the slow solar wind. Synoptic maps of solar wind speed predicted by the Wang-Sheeley-Arge model during selected periods of solar cycle 23, however, show many areas of slow wind displaced from the streamer belt. These areas commonly have the form of an arc that is connected to the streamer belt at both ends. The arcs mark the boundaries between fields emanating from different coronal holes of the same polarity and thus trace the paths of belts of pseudostreamers, i.e., unipolar streamers that form over double arcades and lack current sheets. The arc pattern is consistent with the predicted topological mapping of the narrow open corridor or singular separator line that must connect the holes and, thus, consistent with the separatrix-web model of the slow solar wind. Near solar maximum, pseudostreamer belts stray far from the HCS-associated streamer belt and, together with it, form a global-wide web of slow wind. Recognition of pseudostreamer belts as prominent sources of slow wind provides a new template for understanding solar wind stream structure, especially near solar maximum.
Document ID
20140002249
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Crooker, N. U.
(Boston Univ. Boston, MA, United States)
Antiochos, S. K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Zhao, X.
(Stanford Univ. Stanford, CA, United States)
Neugebauer, M.
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Date Acquired
March 20, 2014
Publication Date
April 1, 2012
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Publisher: AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
Volume: 117
Issue: A4
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN9043
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AGS-0962645
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
solar wind
HCS
Global network
No Preview Available