Nonlinear model of high-speed solar-wind streams

The model is based upon numerical integrations of the conservation equations for a time-dependent, spherically symmetric, radial flow of interplanetary plasma. The nearly radial nature of the solar wind flow justifies the use of the model to approximate 'corotating streams,' e.g., nonspherically symmetric flows that are steady in a frame of reference rotating with the sun.

The predicted variations in solar wind properties are in good agreement with those observed at 1 AU for a reasonable choice of parameters characterizing a 'coronal disturbance' at the heliocentric distance of 28 Rs. This choice must include a perturbation of the coronal temperature but need not include perturbations of the coronal density or mass efflux. The streams produced by such a disturbance 'steepen' in transit to the orbit of the earth, with formation of a pair of shocks predicted at slightly larger heliocentric distances.