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S. A. Ledvina, W. P. Abbett, J. G. Luhmann (Space Sciences Lab, University of California, Berkeley)
The Wang-Sheeley empirical model enables the calculation of the solar wind speed at Earth from the divergence of magnetic flux tubes in a synoptic map-based potential field source surface model of the coronal magnetic field. The formula used for this purpose was derived from observations of the solar wind speed at 1 AU. According to the model, fast solar wind emanates from regions of small magnetic field divergence, while slow solar wind comes from high divergence regions. Arge and Pizzo (2000) recently improved the Wang-Sheeley formula by taking the stream interaction effects between the Sun and 1 AU into account. We use a three-dimensional MHD model of the solar corona to test the assumptions of the Wang- Sheeley model and the improvements made by Arge and Pizzo for various magnetic configurations. These results provide insight into what additional coronal heating may be implied for different flux tube geometries in order to obtain the observed relationship with solar wind speed.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.