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Variation of the average ‘freezing‐in’ temperature of oxygen ions with solar wind speed
Author(s) -
Ogilvie Keith W.,
Vogt C.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl007i008p00577
Subject(s) - atmospheric sciences , wind speed , oxygen , solar wind , ion , environmental science , variation (astronomy) , physics , thermodynamic equilibrium , ionization , thermodynamics , meteorology , plasma , astrophysics , quantum mechanics
Observations of the average Oxygen ionization equilibrium as a function of speed of the solar wind are presented. At low solar wind speeds they indicate a coronal temperature at the freezing‐in point of 1.6 ± 0.2 × 10 6 °K. At speeds above 450 km sec −1 the apparent temperature starts to rise rapidly. This rise is tentatively interpreted in terms of a lack of thermodynamic equilibrium in the source region.