MAGNETIC CLASSIFICATION OF SOLAR-WIND STREAMS

It is found that from the viewpoint of the magnetic field configuration there are only two types of solar wind: streams with closed field lines (flare-induced streams) and streams with open field lines (M-streams of various velocity and lifetime, and quiet solar wind). We emphasize that in the absence of flare-induced streams the Earth's magnetosphere is, as a rule, circum-flown not by a quiet but by a variably disturbed solar wind-M-streams. An important feature of M-streams is that within a given interplanetary magnetic field sector the sign (+ or -) of the stream magnetic field almost always coincides with that of the sector. These facts lead to the conclusion that M-streams are mainly responsible for the sector structure. © 1979.