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Burlaga & Ness 1994
Burlaga, L.F. and Ness, N.F. (1994). Merged interaction regions and large-scale magnetic field fluctuations during 1991: Voyager 2 observations. Journal of Geophysical Research 99. doi: 10.1029/94JA01513. issn: 0148-0227.

This paper analyzes Voyager 2 observations of the magnetic field between 33.6 AU and 36.2 AU during 1991 when extraordinary events were observed on the Sun and in the heliosphere. The magnetic field strength signal B(t) has the unusual form of two large transient merged interaction regions (MIRs) on a fluctuating background. The two MIRs moved past the spacecraft in 32 days and 18 days, respectively. The mean field strength in each of the MIR was ≈2.6 times the mean field during the remaining part of the year (0.11 nT). Each of the MIRs is related to a fast stream. The magnetic field is strong throughout each stream, suggesting that the strong fields are carried by the streams as well as produced by shock and stream compression. The fluctuations in B(t) during 1991 are not multifractal, and the MIRs cannot be approximated as multifractal clusters of intense magnetic fields. The distribution of the hour-averaged magnetic field strengths is approximately lognormal over 90% of its intermediate range, and its has an exponential tail for B greater than the average magnetic field strength. The elevation angles of B have a normal distribution with a standard deviation of 16¿¿4¿. The distributions of the azimuthal angles of B in the ranges 0¿--180¿ and 180¿--360¿ are approximately normal over a more limited range, and non-Gaussian tails associated with nearly radial magnetic fields; the standard deviations are ≈40¿. Individual sectors are present throughout most of the interval, even in the MIRs, but there is no recurrent sector pattern. A model of the large-scale fluctuations in 1991 will have to include both deterministic and statistical factors. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994

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Abstract

Keywords
Interplanetary Physics, Flare and stream dynamics, Interplanetary Physics, Interplanetary magnetic fields, Interplanetary Physics, Solar wind plasma, Solar Physics, Astrophysics, and Astronomy, Flares and mass ejections
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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