Variation in the Statistical Properties of IMF Direction Fluctuations during the 22-Year Solar Magnetic Cycle
Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, Vol. 54, No. 8, 1032–1038 (2014)
DOI: 10.1134/S0016793214080039
Keywords: Solar Wind Interplanetary Magnetic Field, Heliocentric Distance, Solar Wind Velocity, Heliospheric Current Sheet
About the paperAbstract
The variation in the IMF direction distribution during the 22-year solar magnetic cycle has been studied. Data obtained in near-Earth orbits and measurements in the heliospheric regions located far from the Earth, performed with the Helios and Ulysses spacecraft devices, have been analyzed. It has been found that the correlation between the azimuth and magnetic field fluctuations is statistically significant in the low-latitude heliospheric region at heliocentric distances of 0.3–5.4 AU, and the sign of this correlation reverses at a change in the polar solar magnetic field orientation. In the polar zones of the heliosphere outside the latitudinal extension of the heliospheric current sheet, the angle correlation coefficient rapidly decreases with increasing heliographic latitude. The angle correlation sign reversal during the 22-year cycle is accompanied by a change of the asymmetry sign of the magnetic field inclination distribution.