Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 r ⊙: STEREO and PUNCH Observations
9 affiliations
- 1University of Delaware Department of Physics and Astronomy, , Newark, DE ,
- 2INAF – Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology , Rome ,
- 3Università della Calabria Dipartimento di Fisica, , Rende ,
- 4NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD ,
- 5Southwest Research Institute , Boulder, CO ,
- 6National Center for Atmospheric Research / High Altitude Observatory , Boulder, CO ,
- 7Naval Research Laboratory , Washington, DC ,
- 8Southwest Research Institute , San Antonio, TX ,
- 9United Kingdom Research & Innovation / Science & Technology Facilities Council / Rutherford Appleton Laboratory , Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire ,
Abstract
We investigate the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence using remote-sensing brightness observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the first science-ready images from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. Exploiting the combined wide fields of view of STEREO’s COR2 coronagraph (4-9 r⊙) and PUNCH’s Wide Field Imager (WFI, 21-50 r⊙), we track the radial evolution of the power spectral density and correlation scale of density fluctuations from 4 to 50 r⊙. Line-of-sight integration systematically steepens the “usual” turbulence scaling laws by a constant offset of about −0.5 across all resolved scales, so that the energy-containing range (nominally k−1) and the inertial range (nominally k−5/3) appear as k−1.5 and k−2.1, respectively – consistent with previous synthetic-image simulations. The correlation scale increases with heliocentric distance across the full range of heliodistances probed, in accordance with previous theoretical models and observations at closer distances from the Sun.
Related
- Radial Evolution of a CIR: Observations From a Nearly Radially Aligned Event Between Parker Solar Probe and STEREO-A
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- Shadowing the Sun I: Testing Synthetic Granulation Spectra with NEID Solar Eclipse Observations
- First Observation of a Polar Coronal Hole-like Fast Solar Wind Stream in the Sub-Alfvénic Solar Corona: an Analysis of Turbulence Properties
BibTeX
@article{pecora2026solar,
title = {{Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 r ⊙: STEREO and PUNCH Observations}},
author = {F Pecora and G Nisticò and R Chhiber and Y Yang and S Adhikari and J Wang and R Patel and Z Gao and C DeForest and S E Gibson and N Viall and M N Beasley and R C Colaninno and J M Hughes and R Killough and D A Lamb and G T Laurent and C Lowder and J Redfern and D B Seaton and S Van Kooten and N R Waltham and W L Wells and W H Matthaeus},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2115},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2115/9013653},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Solar Wind Turbulence Spectra and Correlation Scale from 4 to 50 r ⊙: STEREO and PUNCH Observations
AU - F Pecora
AU - G Nisticò
AU - R Chhiber
AU - Y Yang
AU - S Adhikari
AU - J Wang
AU - R Patel
AU - Z Gao
AU - C DeForest
AU - S E Gibson
AU - N Viall
AU - M N Beasley
AU - R C Colaninno
AU - J M Hughes
AU - R Killough
AU - D A Lamb
AU - G T Laurent
AU - C Lowder
AU - J Redfern
AU - D B Seaton
AU - S Van Kooten
AU - N R Waltham
AU - W L Wells
AU - W H Matthaeus
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag2115
UR - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2115/9013653
AB - We investigate the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence using remote-sensing brightness observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the first science-ready images from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. Exploiting the combined wide fields of view of STEREO’s COR2 coronagraph (4-9 r⊙) and PUNCH’s Wide Field Imager (WFI, 21-50 r⊙), we track the radial evolution of the power spectral density and correlation scale of density fluctuations from 4 to 50 r⊙. Line-of-sight integration systematically steepens the “usual” turbulence scaling laws by a constant offset of about −0.5 across all resolved scales, so that the energy-containing range (nominally k−1) and the inertial range (nominally k−5/3) appear as k−1.5 and k−2.1, respectively – consistent with previous synthetic-image simulations. The correlation scale increases with heliocentric distance across the full range of heliodistances probed, in accordance with previous theoretical models and observations at closer distances from the Sun.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
ER -