The correlation between CIR ion intensity and solar wind speed at 1 AU Original Research Article

We have investigated the relationship between solar wind speeds and the energetic proton intensity associated with corotating interaction regions (CIR) observed at 1 AU during 1973 – 1995 using NSSDC Data. The speed-difference between the high-speed solar wind and the slow-speed solar wind, which forms CIR at outer heliosphere, shows a good correlation with the peak intensity of 1 – 2 MeV protons during the solar quiet periods. The speed-difference is probably related to the shock strength of the reverse shock of the CIR formed beyond ∼ 1 AU. We have also found the solar activity dependence of the correlation between these quantities in CIR events during the period between 1973 and 1995. The intensity of CIR particles during the solar active periods is higher than that during the quiet periods, suggesting that the density of seed particles in CIR events during the solar active periods is larger than that during the solar quiet period.