Solar wind electron measurements from the Wind spacecraft

Abstract:

The Wind spacecraft has been on orbit for 20 years and produced a
wealth solar wind science. In this talk, I will describe results from the
Three Dimensional Plasma (3DP) instrument on Wind. In particular,
we will use measurements of 1 AU electron distribution functions to
show that the thermal electron bulk speed lags the proton speed and
that this velocity difference is controlled by Coulomb collisions.
By integrating the equation of dynamical friction back into the inner
heliosphere, we infer that the plasma environment of the corona (within
20 Rs) is higher kinetic.