Relating Solar Wind Variability to the Magnetic Topology of its Coronal Source Region
Abstract
The global magnetic configuration of the solar corona directly determines the structure of the solar wind outflow and decades of in-situ observations have shown that the solar wind properties reflect the coronal conditions and magnetic structure of its origin. Connecting the solar wind observed throughout the heliosphere to its origins in the solar corona is a fundamental science objective of the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter missions and one of the central aims of heliophysics. The slow solar wind exhibits significant variability on relatively short timescales, from minutes to days. This short-term variability in the magnetic field, bulk plasma, and composition properties of the slow wind likely results from magnetic reconnection processes in the extended solar corona. We present a detailed analysis of the solar wind from 2003 April 15 to May 13, corresponding to Carrington Rotation 2002. We identify regions of enhanced variability and composition signatures and demonstrate their relationship to the large-scale magnetic topology of the solar corona. Specifically, there are four pseudostreamer wind intervals and two heliospheric current sheet crossings (and an ICME) which all exhibit enhanced alpha-to-proton ratios and signatures in the charge states of carbon, oxygen, and iron. We investigate whether other turbulence properties of these intervals, e.g. the Alfvenicity, Hm-PVI structures, etc, can be related to coronal topological features such as the S-Web arcs of the pseudostreamers or the heliospheric current sheet/plasma sheet crossings. We discuss these results in the context of upcoming PSP and SolO joint observational campaigns.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMSH32B..07L