Solar wind stream interaction regions throughout the heliosphere

• Published in: Living reviews in solar physics Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 1
• Main Author: Richardson, Ian G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2018; Springer
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Astrophysics and Cosmology; Corotating interaction regions; Heliosphere; High-speed streams; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Plasma Physics; Review; Review Article; Solar wind; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Heliosphere; Corotating interaction regions; Solar wind; High-speed streams
• ISSN: 2367-3648; 1614-4961; 1614-4961
• DOI: 10.1007/s41116-017-0011-z

This paper focuses on the interactions between the fast solar wind from coronal holes and the intervening slower solar wind, leading to the creation of stream interaction regions that corotate with the Sun and may persist for many solar rotations. Stream interaction regions have been observed near 1 AU, in the inner heliosphere (at ∼ 0.3 –1 AU) by the Helios spacecraft, in the outer and distant heliosphere by the Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, and out of the ecliptic by Ulysses, and these observations are reviewed. Stream interaction regions accelerate energetic particles, modulate the intensity of Galactic cosmic rays and generate enhanced geomagnetic activity. The remote detection of interaction regions using interplanetary scintillation and white-light imaging, and MHD modeling of interaction regions will also be discussed.