P. Riley et al., Relationship between Ulysses plasma observations and solar observations during the Whole Sun Month campaign, J GEO R-S P, 104(A5), 1999, pp. 9871-9879
In this report, we summarize measurements made by the plasma experiment on
the Ulysses spacecraft during the period designated as "Whole Sun Month" (W
SM, August 10 to September 8; 1996). This interval coincided with the retur
n of solar wind variability at Ulysses. Ulysses was located at similar to 2
8 degrees N heliographic latitude, at a heliocentric distance of 4.25 AU, a
nd on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. In particular: we explore th
e evolution of the solar wind between the Sun and Ulysses for several rotat
ions surrounding WSM. Specifically, we map Ulysses measurements back toward
the Sun by applying a two-dimensional inverse MHD algorithm. This approach
is compared with the commonly used constant speed (or ballistic) approxima
tion. We find that the MHD mapping technique produces substantially better
results when compared with solar observations. Both the Ulysses MHD-mapped
results and the solar observations are consistent with a picture of a modes
tly tilted streamer belt (< 10 degrees) that was deformed northward by an a
ctive region at 240 degrees - 270 degrees longitude.