The Ulysses mission explored for the first time our heliosphere at all latitudes up to +/-80 and therefore has been an ideal mission to study potential gradients in heliolatitude(and radial distance) of discontinuity occurrence rates and types.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/1999RG900010

A review of discontinuities and Alfvén waves in interplanetary space: Ulysses results

A list of the interplanetary (IP) shocks observed by WIND from its launch (in November 1994) to May 1997 is presented. Forty two shocks were identified. The magnetohydrodynamic nature of the shocks is investigated, and the associated shock parameters and their uncertainties are accurately computed using a practical scheme which combines two techniques. These techniques are a combination of the "pre-averaged" magnetic-coplanarity, velocity-coplanarity, and the Abraham-Schrauner-mixed methods, on the one hand, and the Vinas and Scudder [1986] technique for solving the non-linear least-squares Rankine-Hugoniot shock equations, on the other. Within acceptable limits these two techniques generally gave the same results, with some exceptions. The reasons for the exceptions are discussed. It is found that the mean strength and rate of occurrence of the shocks appears to correlated with the solar cycle. Both showed a decrease in 1996 coincident with the time of the lowest ultraviolet solar radiance, indicative of solar minimum and start of solar cycle 23, which began around June 1996. Eighteen shocks appeared to be associated with corotating interaction regions (CIRs). The distribution of their shock normals showed a mean direction peaking in the ecliptic plane and with a longitude (phi(sub n)) in that plane between perpendicular to the Parker spiral and radial from the Sun. When grouped according to the sense of the direction of propagation of the shocks the mean azimuthal (longitude) angle in GSE coordinates was approximately 194 deg for the fast-forward and approximately 20 deg for the fast-reverse shocks. Another 16 shocks were determined to be driven by solar transients, including magnetic clouds. These shocks had a broader distribution of normal directions than those of the CIR cases with a mean direction close to the Sun-Earth line. Eight shocks of unknown origin had normal orientation well off the ecliptic plane. No shock propagated with longitude phi(sub n) >= 220 +/- 10 deg, this would suggest strong hindrance to the propagation of shocks contra a rather tightly winding Parker spiral. Examination of the obliquity angle theta(sub Bn) (that between the shock normal and the upstream interplanetary magnetic field) for the full set of shocks revealed that about 58% was quasi-perpendicular, and some were very nearly perpendicular. About 32% of the shocks were oblique, and the rest (only 10%) were quasi-parallel, with one on Dec. 9, 1996 that showed field pulsations. Small uncertainty in the estimated angle theta(sub Bn) was obtained for about 10 shocks with magnetosonic Mach numbers between 1 and 2, hopefully significantly contributing to studies researching particle acceleration mechanisms at IP shocks, and to investigations where accurate values of theta(sub Bn) are crucial.

/pdf/interplanetary-fast-shocks-and-associated-drivers-observed-36bnqt2gdh.pdf

Interplanetary fast shocks and associated drivers observed through the 23rd solar minimum by Wind over its first 2.5 years

Two-dimensional hybrid simulations using a curvilinear coordinate system are carried out to study the interaction of the Earth's bow shock (BS) with an interplanetary directional discontinuity. In particular, plasma flow patterns are examined. In the interaction of the bow shock with an interplanetary tangential discontinuity (TD), a bulge of magnetic field and plasma may be present near the intersection between the fronts of the BS and the TD. The bulge expands to the upstream and is embedded in the solar wind. High magnetic field and ion density are present in the boundary regions of the bulge, and the temperature in the bulge is significantly higher than that in the ambient solar wind. A core of low density and sometimes low field is present inside the bulge. The flow speed changes from supersonic in the solar wind to subsonic throughout the bulge. A strong sunward deflection in flow velocity is present both in the bulge and in the magnetosheath behind the bulge. The presence of such hot anomalous flows depends on the direction and symmetry condition of the upstream motional electric field. The formation of the bulge and the associated anomalous flows is found to be mainly due to (1) the reflected ions which are focused to TD under the proper electric field conditions, (2) the unbalanced pressure associated with the geometry change and reformation of the BS which causes the expansion of downstream and the sunward motion of ions, or (3) the occurrence of magnetic reconnection in the current sheet. In the interaction of the BS with an interplanetary rotational discontinuity (RD), the flow may be deflected sunward by the magnetic tension force associated with the resulting rotational discontinuities and slow shocks in the magnetosheath. It is suggested that the observed anomalous flow events upstream of the bow shock may be due to the BS/TD interaction, and both BS/RD and BS/TD interactions may generate strong sunward flow deflections in the magnetosheath.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97JA01989

Generation of anomalous flows near the bow shock by its interaction with interplanetary discontinuities

Global hybrid simulation of hot flow anomalies near the bow shock and in the magnetosheath

We present a survey of interplanetary (IP) shocks using Wind and ACE satellite data from January 1995 to December 2013 to study how IP shock geoeffectiveness is controlled by IP shock impact angles. A shock list covering one and a half solar cycle is compiled. The yearly number of IP shocks is found to correlate well with the monthly sunspot number. We use data from SuperMAG, a large chain with more than 300 geomagnetic stations, to study geoeffectiveness triggered by IP shocks. The SuperMAG SML index, an enhanced version of the familiar AL index, is used in our statistical analysis. The jumps of the SML index triggered by IP shock impacts on the Earth's magnetosphere are investigated in terms of IP shock orientation and speed. We find that, in general, strong (high speed) and almost frontal (small impact angle) shocks are more geoeffective than inclined shocks with low speed. The strongest correlation (correlation coefficient R = 0.78) occurs for fixed IP shock speed and for varied IP shock impact angle. We attribute this result, predicted previously with simulations, to the fact that frontal shocks compress the magnetosphere symmetrically from all sides, which is a favorable condition for the release of magnetic energy stored in the magnetotail, which in turn can produce moderate to strong auroral substorms, which are then observed by ground-based magnetometers.

Impact Angle Control of Interplanetary Shock Geoeffectiveness: A Statistical Study

Observations of interplanetary slow shocks near 1 AU are rare. From the magnetic field data obtained from MFI and the proton and electron data obtained from SWE of the WIND spacecraft, we identify the observation of a reverse slow shock on December 24, 1994. The plasma β is small in preshock region. A new method is introduced to determine the best-fit solutions for both the normal of the shock surface and the coplanarity plane when the total deviation of the observed magnetic field and velocity vectors from the theory reaches a minimum. The flow conditions on both sides of the slow shock agree well with those predicted by MHD shock theory.

Interplanetary slow shock observed from Wind

This paper reports the observations of a compound structure in space plasma composed of a slow shock layer and an adjoining rotational discontinuity layer on the postshock side. The compound structure looks like a new kind of MHD discontinuity; it may be called a double discontinuity. Two dual-spacecraft observations of double discontinuities using high-resolution magnetic field data were made in interplanetary space in 1995. The first one observed from Wind and IMP 8 is composed of a reversed slow shock and a rotational discontinuity. The second one observed from Wind and Geotail is composed of a forward slow shock and a rotational discontinuity. A double discontinuity is a stable, large-scale solar wind structure. The thickness of the slow shock layer is of a few ion inertial lengths. The flow in the preshock region has a low βi value and a large shock angle.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97JA03681

J. Zhou

Papers

Interplanetary slow shock observed from Wind

Double discontinuity: A compound structure of slow shock and rotational discontinuity