Observed Associations between the Solar Interior, Corona, and Solar Wind

Abstract

Using polarized brightness (pB) measurements made by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) Mauna Loa Mk III K-coronameter, we investigate the daily changes of path-integrated density at 1.15 R_solar. During 1996, when simultaneous pB and helioseismology data were available, we find that the correlation of pB (at zero time lag and 20° latitude lag) varies with latitude in the same way that the subsurface differential rotation inferred from helioseismology does. The association is such that bands of higher pB correlation are associated with retrograde subsurface rotation and that lower pB correlation bands are associated with prograde subsurface rotation. We also show that polar coronal holes are distinguished by a nonrecurring longitudinal structure as opposed to a recurring structure in the quiet Sun. In addition, the levels of pB and standard deviation σ_pB of pB are about half of those of the neighboring quiet Sun. These statistical characteristics of coronal density in polar holes and the quiet Sun were also present in 1993-1994 and are replicated in the statistics of the distant solar wind observed by Ulysses. The association of the density (pB) correlation with subsurface flow (when simultaneous data were available in 1996), together with the association of the latitudinal dependence of the statistical characteristics (average, standard deviation, and autocorrelation function) of the coronal (pB) and solar wind (Ulysses) density (when simultaneous data were available in 1993-1994), suggest a correlated variability of subsurface flow, coronal density, and solar wind density organized by solar latitude.