Abstract
Comet outburst activity and the structure of solar wind streams were compared on the basis of Pioneer 10, 11, Vela 3 and IMP 7, 8 measurements at the heliocentric distance r ≈ 1–6 AU. It is shown that the solar wind velocity waves which are evolving into corotating shock waves beyond the Earth orbit may be responsible for comet outburst activity. The correlation between variations of comet outburst activity with heliocentric distance and the behavior of the solar wind velocity waves is established. The closeness of the characteristic times for the velocity waves and comet outburst activity (7–8 days at r = 1 AU) as well as the simultaneous growth of both the characteristic times with r are noted. The observed distribution of the comet outburst activity parameters during the 11-year cycle is also in good agreement with the phase distributions during the 11-year cycle of variations of the coronal hole areas and the rate of change of the sunspot area δS p.
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Ptitsyna, N.G., Richter, A.K. & Breus, T.K. The role of solar-wind velocity-waves in comet outburst activity. Earth Moon Planet 37, 161–170 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130892
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00130892