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The Solar Wind Energy Flux

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Abstract

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 (V SW>700 km s−1) has the same mean energy flux as the slower wind (V SW<700 km s−1), 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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank ESA and the SWOOPS instrument team (D. McComas, PI) for making Ulysses plasma data available on the ESA web site, and W. Olgivie, A.J. Lazarus, and M.R. Aellig for the SWE data. The Wind/3DP and Helios data were provided by the CDAWeb, managed by NASA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC , Université Paris Diderot, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92195, Meudon, France

    G. Le Chat, K. Issautier & N. Meyer-Vernet

  2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA

    G. Le Chat

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  1. G. Le Chat
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  2. K. Issautier
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  3. N. Meyer-Vernet
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Correspondence to G. Le Chat.

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Le Chat, G., Issautier, K. & Meyer-Vernet, N. The Solar Wind Energy Flux. Sol Phys 279, 197–205 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-012-9967-y

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