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Spatial coherence of interplanetary coronal mass ejection sheaths at 1 AU
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  • Matti Ala-Lahti,
  • Julia Ruohotie,
  • Simon W. Good,
  • Emilia Kilpua,
  • Noé Lugaz
Matti Ala-Lahti
University of Helsinki

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Julia Ruohotie
University of Helsinki
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Simon W. Good
University of Helsinki
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Emilia Kilpua
University of Helsinki
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Noé Lugaz
University of New Hampshire
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Abstract

The longitudinal spatial coherence near 1 AU of the magnetic field in sheath regions driven by interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) is studied by investigating ACE and spacecraft measurements of 29 sheaths. During 2000-2002 Wind performed prograde orbits, and the non-radial spacecraft separation varied from 0.001 to 0.012 AU between the studied events. We compare the measurements by computing the Pearson correlation coefficients for the magnetic field magnitude and components, and estimate the magnetic field coherence by evaluating the scale lengths that give the extrapolated distance of zero correlation between the measurements. The correlation is also separately examined for low- and high-pass filtered data. We discover magnetic fields larger scale lengths in ICME sheaths than those reported for the solar wind but, in general, smaller than for the ICME ejecta. Our results imply that magnetic fields in the sheath are more coherently structured and well correlated compared to the solar wind. The largest sheath coherence is reported in the GSE -direction that has the scale length of 0.149 AU while the lengths for Bx, Bz, and |B| vary between 0.024 and 0.035 AU. The same sheath magnitude ordering of scale lengths also apply for the low-pass filtered magnetic field data. We discuss field line draping and the alignment of pre-existing discontinuities by the shock passage giving reasoning for observed results.
Sep 2020Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics volume 125 issue 9. 10.1029/2020JA028002