HR: 14:10h
AN: SH23C-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Potential Field Source Surface Model and Solar Wind Prediction
AU: * Poduval, B
EM: bala@quake.stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, 445 Via Palou HEPL Annex Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 United States
AU: Zhao, X
EM: zhao@quake.stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, 445 Via Palou HEPL Annex Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 United States
AU: Hoeksema, T
EM: todd@quake.Stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, 445 Via Palou HEPL Annex Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 United States
AB: Various magnetic activities of the Sun causes disturbances in the near-Earth enviornment as well as on the weather and technology on Earth. "Addressing these disturbances and predicting them well in advance are the main task of Space Weather research. Much of the solar side of Space Weather is concerned with the accurate prediction of solar wind and its properties which are closely related to the coronal magnetic field. Since a direct measurement of the coronal magnetic field is still limited to strong field regions, solar wind predictions are based on theoretical models of the corona. The primary prediction scheme of the solar wind speed currently used at SEC is based on the empirical relationship between the flux tube expansion (FTE) factor obtained using Potential Field Source Surface (PFSS) model of the corona and the solar wind speed near the Earth. Though successful, this scheme has significant discrepancies. We have studied, using the near-Earth saltellites data as well as near--Sun Helios data, the possible causes of these discrepancies. In our study, FTE at the source surface were obtained using two different coronal models: PFSS model and the Current--Sheet Source Surface (CSSS) model. We present the results of this investigation and a comparison of the two models.
DE: 2169 Sources of the solar wind
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7511 Coronal holes
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly