Connecting the Sun and the solar wired: Source regions of the fast wind observed in interplanetary space

Highly sensitive radio occultation and white light measurements of path-int egrated density have shown that the solar corona comprises three distinct m orphological regions, streamer, quiet Sun, and polar coronal hole, which ex cept for the streamer region, extend radially into interplanetary space fro m 1.15 R-s to at least 30 R-s. In this paper we build on these results by c omparing solar wind flow speeds observed at the same time as path-integrate d density. Flow speeds are inferred from the Doppler dimming of O VI lines with the ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, while the simultaneous polarized brightness measurements of p ath-integrated density are from the High Altitude Observatory Mauna Loa Mk III K-coronamerer. The comparison of global flow speed and density observat ions in 1997 produces three new results. First, it shows, that the three di stinct morphological regions, identified earlier in density measurements, a re present in the latitudinal profile of the flow speed in the corona. In p articular, the flow speed measurements provide evidence for the quiet Sun a s an additional source of fast wind. Second, the comparison shows that flow spend and density are anticorrelated in the solar corona. Third, it demons trates that the Mk III pB measurements can readily serve as a proxy for vel ocity distribution in the outer corona. The extensive Mk III data set that spans nearly two solar cycles therefore provides the framework of near-Sun measurements with which connections with solar wind measurements in interpl anetary space can be made. Specifically, we show that fast wind regions in the heliosphere, observed directly by Ulysses and Wind plasma measurements and remotely by Nagoya interplanetary scintillation measurements, map radia lly back to fast wind regions at the Sun identified by the Mk III data.