We study the radial and longitudinal dependence of 4-13 and 27-37 MeV proton peak intensities and fluences measured within 1 AU of the Sun during intense solar energetic particle events. Data are from the IMP 8 and the two Helios spacecraft. We analyze 72 events and compute the total event fluence (F) and the peak intensity (J), distinguishing between the event's absolute maximum intensity and that neglecting local increases associated with the passage of shocks or plasma structures. Simultaneous measurements of individual events by at least two spacecraft show that the dominant parameter determining J and F is the longitudinal separation () between the parent active region and the footpoint of the field line connecting each spacecraft with the Sun, rather than the spacecraft radial distance (R). We perform a multiparameter fit to the radial and longitudinal distributions of J and F for events with identified solar origin and that produce intensity enhancements in at least two spacecraft. This fit determines simultaneously the radial and longitudinal dependences of J and F. Radial distributions of events observed by at least two spacecraft show ensembleaveraged variations ranging from R À2:7 to R À1:9 for 4-13 and 27-37 MeV proton peak intensities, and R À2:1 to R À1:0 for 4-13 and 27-37 MeV proton event fluences, respectively. Longitudinal distributions of J and F are approximated by the form e Àk À 0 ð Þ 2 , where 0 is the distribution centroid and k is found to vary between $1.3 and $1.0 rad À2. Radial dependences are less steep than both those deduced from diffusion transport models by Hamilton et al.

[1] We reexamine traveling convection vortices (TCVs) seen by the Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies on 9 November 1993. IMP-8 energetic ion observations confirm that the solar wind pressure variations previously associated with these TCVs were generated by kinetic processes within the Earth's foreshock. As expected during this interval of spiral IMF orientation, fast mode waves launched by the pressure variations first arrived in the equatorial ionosphere near dusk and propagated dawnward. We derive a model for the field-aligned currents generated by transient compressions of the magnetopause and show that it accounts for the number of TCVs seen in the prenoon ionosphere, their sense of rotation, the latitude at which they occur, and their absence in the postnoon ionosphere.

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We investigate the evolution of the suprathermal (ST) proton population as interplanetary shocks cross 1 au. The variability of the ST proton intensities and energy spectra upstream of the shocks is analyzed in terms of the shock parameters, upstream magnetic field configurations, and preexisting upstream populations. Propitious conditions for the observation of ST particles at distances far upstream from the shock occur in parallel shock configurations when particles can easily escape from the shock vicinity. In this situation, ST intensity enhancements show onsets characterized by velocity dispersion effects and energy spectra that develop into a "hump" profile peaking around ∼10 keV just before the arrival of the shock. The observation of field-aligned proton beams at low energies (5-10 keV) is possible under conditions that facilitate the scatter-free propagation of the particles streaming out of the shock. Upstream of perpendicular shocks, ST intensity enhancements are only observed in close proximity to the shock. Power-law proton spectra develop downstream of the shocks. The functional form for the downstream phase-space density proportional to v −5 is observed only over a limited range of ST energies. The absence of ST populations observed far upstream of interplanetary shocks raises questions about whether ST protons contribute as a seed particle population in the processes of particle acceleration at shocks.

Voyager 1(V1) and Voyager 2(V2) have observed heliosheath plasma since 2005 December and 2007 August, respectively. The observed speed profiles are very different at the two spacecrafts. Speeds at V1 decreased to zero in 2010 while the average speed at V2 is a constant 150 km s −1 with the direction rotating tailward. The magnetic flux is expected to be constant in these heliosheath flows. We show that the flux is constant at V2 but decreases by an order of magnitude at V1, even after accounting for divergence of the flows and changes in the solar field. If reconnection were responsible for this decrease, the magnetic field would lose 70% of its free energy to reconnection and the energy density released would be 0.6 eV cm −3 .