Solar wind composition measurements by the Ulysses SWICS experiment during transient solar wind flows
Geiss, J.; Galvin, A. B.; Ipavich, F. M.; Gloeckler, G.; Shafer, C. M.; Ogilvie, K.
United States, Switzerland
Abstract
For the March/April 1991 time period, the alpha/proton abundance ratio, the proton kinetic temperature and speed distributions, and the relative abundance of O+7 to O+6 is determined over each 13-minute duty cycle of the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS) experiment on Ulysses. The ratio (as a relative measure of ionization temperature) is shown to be useful in identifying possible coronal mass ejection (CME) events. We report measurements of silicon/oxygen abundance ratios and silicon and oxygen charge state distributions in the solar wind during a CME event and compare these compositions to a "normal" solar wind time period.