Relationship between the IMF Azimuthal Angle and Solar Wind Velocity
Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, Vol. 48, No. 2, 139–144 (2008)
DOI: 10.1134/S0016793208020011
About the paperAbstract
The relationship between the IMF azimuthal angle and plasma velocity has been studied independently for three types of solar wind streams (recurrent and transient high-speed streams and low-speed background wind) based on the interplanetary medium parameters measured in the near-Earth orbits in 1964–1996. The relationships between the IMF azimuthal angle cotangent and plasma velocity are close to linear but strongly differ from one another and from the theoretical relationship for all types of streams. These differences area caused by the magnetic field disturbance on the time scales smaller than a day, and the effect of this disturbance has been studied quantitatively. The effective periods of rotation of the IMF sources on the Sun, depending on the solar cycle phase, have been obtained from the relations between the IMF azimuthal angle cotangent and plasma velocity. During the most part of the solar cycle, the periods of rotation of the IMF sources are close to the period of rotation of the solar equator but abruptly increase to the values typical of the solar circumpolar zones in the years of solar minimums.