Parameterizing the Wind 3DP Heat Flux Electron Data
Abstract
Solar wind heat flux (HF) electrons are valuable as tracers of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) topology, distinguishing positive from negative solar polarities and indicating the presence of magnetically closed CMEs when the flows are counterstreaming. All past applications of heat fluxes to determine field topologies have been based on visual inspection of color spectrograms of electron pitch angle distributions (PADs). However, HF PADs can take a range of shapes and amplitudes, which challenges the visual analysis. We now take a quantitative approach to HF analysis by parameterizing the HF PADs of the UC Berkeley 3DP data with a Fourier harmonic analysis. We have calculated the harmonic cosine coefficients Ao through A4 for a five-year period of the Wind 3DP data set with a lO-min time resolution. With these data we intend to derive quantitative criteria for unidirectional and bi-directional flows and other possible diagnostics of interplanetary field dynamics or configurations. Some initial considerations and results of the 3DP parameterization are presented.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA422682
Entities
People
- D. E. Larson
- N. U. Crooker
- Stephen W. Kahler
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory