Reconstructing Synoptic Maps of Solar Wind Radial Velocity between 20 and 60 R ⊙ Based on STEREO/HI1 Images

Abstract

Previously, we developed a correlation-aided reconstruction method to recognize and locate solar wind transients observed by the Heliospheric Imager-1 (HI1) on board the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and then developed a technique to infer the radial velocity distribution in each solar wind transient. Considering that the common field of view of HI1 may cover the full longitudes through the solar rotation, we further apply these methods to small-scale transients (STs) in a complete Carrington rotation to reconstruct a synoptic map of the solar wind radial velocity. Our test suggests that the reconstructed synoptic map is in agreement with the preset synthetic STs in latitude, longitude, and radial velocity. Then, Carrington rotation 2095 between 2010 March 26 and April 22 is selected to demonstrate the new technique. The derived synoptic map shows that the solar wind radial velocity corresponding to STs is in the range of 250–550 km s−1 between 20 and 60 R ⊙ in the low-to-middle latitudes. We extrapolate the in situ observation near 1 au to 20 R ⊙ and find that it matches the synoptic velocity map well. The magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the solar wind radial velocity are consistent with the synoptic map near the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) but usually overestimate the velocity values for STs far away from the HCS. We expect that this technique will be a powerful tool to learn about and monitor the solar wind in the inner heliosphere, where the number of human probes is limited.