Intermittency in the solar wind: A comparison between solar minimum and maximum using Ulysses data

Abstract

The Ulysses spacecraft, in a polar orbit of the Sun, has now completed two fast latitude scans, one at solar minimum and one at solar maximum. We have performed a comparison of the intermittent properties of the high frequency solar wind magnetic field components at these different levels of activity, using the well known P‐Model. At solar minimum, tests indicated a high level of intermittency in the fast coronal hole solar wind, and a varied structure in the slow wind, with mean lower level of intermittency than in fast wind. At solar maximum, slow wind dominated the heliosphere and the parameters show high variability throughout the scan, as for slow wind at solar minimum, indicating that intermittency is probably dependent on the details of the origin of the slow wind plasma.