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The solar wind is observed to exist in two fundamental states, termed the slow solar wind and the fast solar wind, though their differences extend well beyond their speeds. In near-Earth space, the slow solar wind is observed to have a velocity of 300–500 km/s , a temperature of ~ 100 kilokelvin and a composition that is a close match to the ...
The solar wind is supersonic and passes through a bow shock where the direction of flow is changed so that most of the solar wind plasma is deflected to either side of the magnetopause, much like water is deflected before the bow of a ship. The zone of shocked solar wind plasma is the magnetosheath. At Earth and all the other planets with ...
A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave. The disturbance that drives the magnetic storm may be a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) or (much less severely) a corotating interaction region (CIR), a high-speed stream of solar wind originating ...
Solar wind turbulence refers to the complex, chaotic fluid motions and magnetic field fluctuations observed in the solar wind plasma as it flows outward from the Sun. This turbulence plays a key role in heating the solar wind and accelerating charged particles throughout the heliosphere. [1] [2] [3]
By Will Dunham. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The solar wind is a ubiquitous feature of our solar system. This relentless high-speed flow of charged particles from the sun fills interplanetary space.
The radiation emitted by solar wind only reaches the highest layers of the Earth's atmosphere, including the ionosphere. There are however reports of a possible impact on lower layers of the atmosphere. It is recorded that the increase of solar wind during March 2012 in the United States coincided with the heat waves that occurred at the time. [29]
Earth's magnetic field, predominantly dipolar at its surface, is distorted further out by the solar wind. This is a stream of charged particles leaving the Sun's corona and accelerating to a speed of 200 to 1000 kilometres per second. They carry with them a magnetic field, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). [27]
The latter originates in coronal holes and has radial flow speeds of 450–800 km/s compared to speeds of 250–450 km/s for the slow solar wind. [6] [7] Interactions between fast and slow solar wind streams produce stream interaction regions which, if present after a solar rotation, are referred to as co-rotating interaction regions (CIRs). [8 ...