Corotating Disturbances of the Solar Wind in the Monitoring Data of Interplanetary Scintillations: Simulation and Observation

Abstract

A simple model has been proposed for the leading part of an interaction region between solar wind streams of different speeds. The model describes an increased plasma concentration as a spiral jet with a rectangular cross-section. Using this model, two-dimensional dynamic maps of interplanetary scintillation level distribution were calculated, which were specifically adapted to the configuration of the BSA LPI radio telescope. The model calculations were compared with the data from a series of observations of interplanetary scintillation during four geomagnetic storms in 2022 and 2023, caused by corotating disturbances. The calculations and observational data exhibit a qualitative correspondence. It has been shown that corotating disturbances manifest as scintillation enhancement three days before a geomagnetic storm, occurring at around 15:00–16:00 Moscow time. Over the next two days, the scintillation enhancement zone shifts to a later time, while there is no enhancement in the morning sector. During the actual geomagnetic storm period, there is an increase in night scintillations. This sequence of scintillation enhancement indicates that the disturbance approaches Earth from the eastern side while rotating with the Sun. The qualitative differences between the observational data for corotating and propagating large-scale disturbances are discussed.