Interplanetary magnetic clouds At 1 AU

Abstract

Magnetic clouds are defined as regions with a radial dimension ≈ 0.25 AU (at 1 AU) in which the magnetic field strength is high and the magnetic field direction changes appreciably by means of rotation of one component of nearly parallel to a plane. The magnetic field geometry in such a magnetic cloud is consistent with that of a magnetic loop, but it cannot be determined uniquely. Forty‐five clouds were identified in interplanetary data obtained near earth between 1967 and 1978; at least one cloud passed the earth every 3 months. Three classes of clouds were identified, corresponding to the association of a cloud with a shock, a stream interface, or a CME. There are approximately equal numbers of clouds in each class, and the field and plasma parameters in each class are similar, suggesting that the three types of clouds might be different manifestations of a single phenomenon (e.g., a coronal transient). Interface‐associated clouds may have been swept up by corotating streams. Shock‐associated clouds move faster than the other two types, which are basically slow flows. The magnetic pressure inside the clouds is higher than the ion pressure, and the sum is higher than the pressure of the material outside of the cloud. This implies that the magnetic clouds were expanding even at 1 AU, and the average expansion speed is estimated to be of the order of half the ambient Alfvén speed.