Imprint of the Sun on the solar wind

Observations of the inner corona in polarized brightness by the Mauna Loa M k III K-coronameter at 1.15 R. and soft X-rays by Yohkoh at 1.03 R. are com bined with 1995 Ulysses radio occultation measurements of the solar wind to demonstrate that the signatures of the coronal hole boundary, active regio ns, and bright points are present in the heliocentric distance range of 20- 30 R.. The existence of these signatures in the brightness of the corona (o bserved by ranging measurements) and the contrast of the small-scale raylik e structures comprising the corona (observed by Doppler scintillation measu rements) at such distances can readily be accounted for by open field lines rooted within the complex magnetic structures of the quiet Sun, active reg ions, and bright points. Hence, with the exception of the small volume of i nterplanetary space occupied by the heliospheric current sheet that evolves from coronal streamers within a few solar radii of the Sun, small-scale ra ylike structures carry the imprint of the different density structures of t he solar disk approximately radially into the heliosphere.