Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:01:16.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind during the solar cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

Lennard A. Fisk
Affiliation:
Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA email: lafisk@umich.edu
Liang Zhao
Affiliation:
Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA email: lafisk@umich.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind are behaving differently in the current solar minimum, compared to the previous minimum. The radial component of the heliospheric magnetic field, and thus the average value of the component of the solar magnetic field that opens into the heliosphere, the so-called open magnetic flux of the Sun, is lower than it was in the previous solar minimum; in fact, lower than in any previous solar minimum for which there are good spacecraft observations. The mass flux, the ram pressure, and the coronal electron temperature as measured by solar wind charge states are also lower in the current minimum compared to the previous one. This situation provides an opportunity to test some of the concepts for the behavior of the heliospheric magnetic field and the solar wind that have been developed; to improve these theories, and to construct a theory for the solar wind that accounts for the observed behavior throughout the solar cycle, including the current unusual solar minimum.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2009

References

Abramenko, V. I., Fisk, L. A., & Yurhyshyn, V. B. 2006, ApJ(Letters), 641, L65Google Scholar
Axford, W. I. & McKenzie, J. F. 1997, in: Jokipii, J. R., Sonnet, C. P. & Giampapa, M. S. (eds.), Cosmic Winds in the Heliosphere (Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press), p. 31Google Scholar
Babcock, H. W. 1961, ApJ, 133, 572CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balogh, A. & Smith, E. J. 2001, Space Sci. Revs., 97, 147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranmer, S. R., van Ballegooijen, A. A., & Edgar, R. J. 2007, ApJS, 171, 520Google Scholar
Crooker, N. U., Gosling, J. T., & Kahler, S. W. 2002, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 1028Google Scholar
Feldman, U., Landi, E., & Schwadron, N. A. 2005, J. Geophys. Res., 110 (A7), A07109Google Scholar
Feldman, U., Widing, K. G., & Warren, H. P. 1999, ApJ, 522, 1133Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A. 1996, J. Geophys. Res. 101 (A7), 15,547CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, L. A. 2001, J. Geophys. Res., 106 (A8), 15,849Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A. 2003, J. Geophys. Res., 108 (A4), p. SSH 7-1Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A. 2005, ApJ, 626 (1), 563Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A. & Schwadron, N. A. 2001, ApJ, 560 (1), 425438CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, L. A. & Zurbuchen, T. H. 2006, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A09115Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A., Schwadron, N. A., & Zurbuchen, T. H. 1998, Space Sci. Revs., 86 (1/4), 5160Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A., Schwadron, N. A., & Zurbuchen, T. H. 1999c, J. Geophys. Res., 104 (A9), 19,765Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A., Zurbuchen, T. H., & Schwadron, N. A. 1999a, ApJ, 521 (2), 868877Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A., Zurbuchen, T. H., & Schwadron, N. A. 1999b, Space Sci. Revs., 87 (1/2), 4354Google Scholar
Fisk, L. A., Schwadron, N. A., & Zurbuchen, T. H. 1999c, J. Geophys. Res., 104 (A9), 19,765Google Scholar
Gilbert, J. A., Zurbuchen, T. H., & Fisk, L. A. 2007, ApJ, 663, 583CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gloeckler, G., Zurbuchen, T. H., Geiss, J. 2003, J. Geophys. Res., 108, SSH 8–1Google Scholar
Gosling, J. T. 1975, Rev. Geophys., 13, 1053CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosling, J. T., Baker, D. N., Bame, S. J., Feldman, W. C., Zwickl, R. D., & Smith, E. J. 1987 J. Geophys. Res., 92, 8519CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosling, J. T., Birn, J., & Hesse, M. 1995, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 869Google Scholar
Hagenaar, H. J., DeRosa, M. L., & Schrijver, C. J. 2008, ApJ, in pressGoogle Scholar
Hansteen, V. H., & Leer, E. J. 1995, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 21577CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isenberg, P. A. 1991, in: Jacobs, J. A. (ed.), Geomagnetism (San Diego: Academic), vol. 4, p. 1Google Scholar
Jones, G. H., Balogh, A., & Smith, E. J. 2003, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 2Google Scholar
Marsch, E., von Steiger, R., & Bochsler, P. 1995, A&A, 301, 261Google Scholar
Lin, R. P. & Kahler, S. W. 1992, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 8203Google Scholar
McComas, D. J. 1995, Rev. Geophys., 33, 603Google Scholar
McComas, D. J., Gosling, J. T., & Phillips, J. L. 1992, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 171Google Scholar
McComas, D. J., Gosling, J. T., Phillips, J. L., Bame, S. J., Luhmann, J. G., & Smith, E. J. 1989, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 6907Google Scholar
Owens, M. J. & Crooker, N. U. 2006, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A10104Google Scholar
Pagel, C., Crooker, N. U., Larson, D. E., Kahler, S. W., & Owens, M. J. 2005, J. Geophys. Res., 110, A01103Google Scholar
Pagel, C., Gary, S. P., de Koning, C. A., Skoug, R. M., & Steinberg, J. T. 2007, J. Geophys. Res., 112, A04103Google Scholar
Parker, E. N. 1958, ApJ, 128, 664CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrijver, C. J., Title, A. M., van Ballegooijen, A. A., Hagenaar, H. J., & Shine, R. A. 1997, ApJ, 487, 424Google Scholar
Smith, E. J. & Balogh, A. 1995 J. Geophys. Res., 105, 27217Google Scholar
Smith, E. J., Balogh, A., Forsyth, R. J., & McComas, D. J. 2001, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 4159Google Scholar
Svalgaard, L. & Cliver, E. W. 2007, ApJ(Letters), 661, L203Google Scholar
Wang, Y.-M., Lean, J., & Sheeley, N. R., Jr. 2000, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 505Google Scholar
Wang, Y.-M. & Sheeley, N. R. Jr., 2003, ApJ, 599, 1404Google Scholar
Zurbuchen, T. H. & Richardson, I. G., 2006, Space Sci. Revs., 123, 31Google Scholar
Zurbuchen, T. H., Schwadron, N. A., & Fisk, L. A. 1997, J. Geophys. Res., 102 (A11), 24, 175Google Scholar