Solar Wind Composition and What We Expect to Learn from Out-of-Ecliptic Measurements
Abstract
Elemental abundances in the solar wind are fractionated relative to the solar abundances by atom-ion separation in the upper chromosphere and by ion-ion separation in the corona, where the charge states of the ions are also frozen in. Thus, solar wind composition and charge states of the elements can be used to study conditions and processes at the solar surface and in the corona. The velocity distributions of individual ion species reflect wave-particle interactions, collisions and stream-stream interactions in interplanetary space. The SWICS and SWPE experiments carried by Ulysses are well equipped for measurements of the abundances of a number of elements and their charge and velocity distributions. The scan over virtually all solar latitudes effected by Ulysses ought to give new insight into processes and conditions in the solar wind source regions, and it will provide data for a three-dimensional picture of solar wind expansion and heliospheric processes which is also important for studying the interactions of the galactic cosmic rays and the interstellar gas with the heliosphere.
- Publication:
-
The Sun and the Heliosphere in Three Dimensions
- Pub Date:
- 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1007/978-94-009-4612-5_21
- Bibcode:
- 1986ASSL..123..173G
- Keywords:
-
- Plasma Composition;
- Solar Wind;
- Abundance;
- Chromosphere;
- Heating;
- Ion Motion;
- Ionization;
- Particle Acceleration;
- Solar Corona;
- Three Dimensional Motion;
- Velocity Distribution;
- Solar Physics