The Solar Wind Energy Flux

Autor: Chat, G. Le, Issautier, K., Meyer-Vernet, N.
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1007/s11207-012-9967-y
Popis: The solar-wind energy flux measured near the ecliptic is known to be independent of the solar-wind speed. Using plasma data from Helios, Ulysses, and Wind covering a large range of latitudes and time, we show that the solar-wind energy flux is independent of the solar-wind speed and latitude within 10%, and that this quantity varies weakly over the solar cycle. In other words the energy flux appears as a global solar constant. We also show that the very high speed solar-wind (VSW > 700 km/s) has the same mean energy flux as the slower wind (VSW < 700 km/s), but with a different histogram. We use this result to deduce a relation between the solar-wind speed and density, which formalizes the anti-correlation between these quantities.
Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures
Databáze: arXiv