EGU21-782
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-782
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Empirical inner boundary conditions and rotation rates for solar wind models

Huw Morgan
Huw Morgan
  • Prifysgol Aberystwyth, Physics, United Kingdom of Great Britain – England, Scotland, Wales (hmorgan@aber.ac.uk)

To date, the inner boundary conditions for solar wind models are either directly or indirectly based on magnetic field extrapolation models of the photosphere. Furthermore, between the photosphere and Earth, there are no other direct empirical constraints on models. New breakthroughs in coronal rotation tomography, applied to coronagraph observations, allow maps of the coronal electron density to be made in the heliocentric height range 4-12 solar radii (Rs). We show that these maps (i) give a new empirical boundary condition for solar wind structure at a height where the coronal magnetic field has become radial, thus avoiding the need to model the complex inner coronal magnetic field, and (ii) give accurate rotation rates for the corona, of crucial importance to the accuracy of solar wind models and forecasts.

How to cite: Morgan, H.: Empirical inner boundary conditions and rotation rates for solar wind models, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-782, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-782, 2021.

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