HR: 1340h
AN: SH13A-0301    [Abstracts]
TI: The heliospheric magnetic flux budget
AU: * Owens, M J
EM: mjowens@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave, , Boston, MA 02215 United States
AU: Crooker, N
EM: crooker@bu.edu
AF: Center for Space Physics, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave, , Boston, MA 02215 United States
AB: There has recently been much debate about whether the long interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) flux opening times (months to years) inferred by counter-streaming electron (CSE) observations lead to a catasphrophic build of magnetic flux in the heliosphere. As no such ``flux catastrophe'' is observed, this has questioned the validity of CSEs as a signature of closed flux. In this study we simulate heliospheric flux as a constant background open flux with a time-varying ICME contribution. Coronagraph observations are used to determine CME rates, while in situ observations are used to estimate the magnetic flux content of a typical ICME. The flux carried by ejecta can only to contribute to the heliospheric flux budget while the flux remains closed, and it is assumed that closed flux decays exponentially with time. Both static equilibrium and dynamic simulations require ICME fluxing opening times ~ 200 days in order to match the observed doubling in the magnetic field intensity at 1 AU over the solar cycle; no flux catastrophe results.
DE: 2111 Ejecta, driver gases, and magnetic clouds
DE: 2134 Interplanetary magnetic fields
DE: 2162 Solar cycle variations (7536)
DE: 2169 Solar wind sources
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections (2101)
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005