Fast and slow flows in the solar wind near the ecliptic at 1 AU?

L. F. Burlaga and A. Szabo

Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

Abstract:

At 1 AU in 1998, when solar activity was increasing, the distribution of hour averages of the solar wind speed was approximately lognormal. There was no distinct separation between fast and slow flows. The density, temperature and magnetic field strength also had lognormal distributions. It was possible to identify distinct structures such as corotating streams and magnetic clouds during some intervals. We suggest that coexistence of a simple statistical structure and deterministic physical structures is the consequence of the dynamical evolution and interactions of the flows between the sun and 1 AU and a relatively complex source signal.

Space Science Reviews, 87:(1-2), 137-140, 1999