A correlative study of SSC's, interplanetary shocks, and solar activity

Abstract

A total of 93 SSC's were examined during the four year period from 1968 to 1971 at and near the peak of the solar activity cycle. Of the 93 SSC's 81 could be associated with solar activity, such as solar flares and radio bursts of Type II and Type IV. The mean propagation speeds of these flare-associated events ranged from 400 to 1000 km/sec with an average speed of 600-700 km/sec. Disturbances associated with 48 of the SSC's have been studied in detail using the corresponding interplanetary (IP) magnetic field, and plasma data when they were available. It was found that 41 of the 48 disturbances corresponded to IP shock waves, and the remaining seven events were tangential discontinuities. Thirty percent of the IP shocks had thick structure (i.e. the magnetic field jump across the shock occurred over a distance much greater than 50 proton Larmor radii). Also given is a statistical study of the gross geometry of a typical or average shock surface based on multiple spacecraft sightings and their relative orientation with respect to the solar flare. It is suggested that a typical shock front propagating out from the sun at l AU has a radius of curvature on the order of l AU. Also given are some general properties of oblique IP flare-shocks