Some Problems of Identifying Types of Large-Scale Solar Wind and Their Role in the Physics of the Magnetosphere: 2

Abstract

This work is a continuation of paper [1], in which we discussed some incorrect approaches to the identification of large-scale types of solar wind and associated incorrect conclusions in the analysis of solar–terrestrial physics data. In this paper, we analyze the lists of 28 events of coronal mass ejection (CME) and 31 events of corotating interaction region (CIR) in 2013–2016 used by Shen et al. [2] to compare the responses of the Earth’s radiation belts to various interplanetary drivers. The interpretation of solar wind types in these lists differs both from our catalog [3] for Sheath, ICME, and CIR and from the catalog by Richardson and Cane [4] for CME. In addition, the authors of paper [2] do not distinguish the Sheath- and ICME-induced magnetic storms and include them in the general type of CME-induced storms. Our analysis has shown that, among the 28 events of CME-induced storms mentioned, 16 events belong to Sheath, 2 events to MC, 4 events to Ejecta, 2 events to CIR, and 4 events to undisturbed solar wind with shocks. The catalog [4], which also does not distinguish the Sheath and ICME, contains 18 of the 28 events presented in paper [2]. Among 31 CIR events presented by the authors of paper [2], according to our analysis, 25 events belong to CIR, 2 events to Sheath, and 4 events to undisturbed solar wind. In catalog [4], one of the 31 CIR events from paper [2] is presented as CME. Since the properties of CIR and Sheath compression regions are close, the conclusions of the authors of paper [2] on the properties of CIR-induced storms are only slightly distorted by the incorrect identification of stream types, whereas the conclusions concerning the CME-induced storms, which more than by a half represent the Sheath-induced storms, seem incorrect to us.