The influence of CIRs on the energetic electron flux at 1 AU

¹ Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
² Unit for Space Physics, School of Physics, Potchefstroom University for C.H.E., 2520 Potchefstroom, South Africa

Corresponding author: R. Kissmann, rk@tp4.rub.de

Received: 7 May 2003
Accepted: 28 January 2004

Abstract

Much work has been done on Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs), see e.g. [CITE]. Apart from the actual impact of CIRs on the solar wind plasma environment, the influence of CIRs on energetic particle populations has been of special interest. In this paper we study the influence of a CIR on the propagation of Jovian electrons to a spacecraft located at 1 AU. Recent modelling in this field has been concentrated on the local influence of CIRs on the electron flux at distances greater than 1 AU. This is due to the fact that modelling on larger spatial scales thus reaching closer to the Sun requires a 3D numerical model which also includes an energy and time dependence of the intensities. With our recently developed numerical model we were able to fulfil these requirements. We show the results of the calculated influence of CIRs on the Jovian and Galactic electron intensity at 1 AU, compared to data taken by the IMP 8 spacecraft, and discuss the implications for the CIR effects on the transport of energetic electrons.