Articles | Volume 8, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-8-21-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/hgss-8-21-2017
Review article
 | 
31 Mar 2017
Review article |  | 31 Mar 2017

Origin of the Wang–Sheeley–Arge solar wind model

Neil R. Sheeley Jr.

Abstract. A correlation between solar wind speed at Earth and the amount of magnetic field line expansion in the corona was verified in 1989 using 22 years of solar and interplanetary observations. We trace the evolution of this relationship from its birth 15 years earlier in the Skylab era to its current use as a space weather forecasting technique. This paper is the transcript of an invited talk at the joint session of the Historical Astronomy Division and the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society during its 224th meeting in Boston, MA, on 3 June 2014.

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Short summary
A method of deducing solar wind speed from magnetic observations of the Sun was verified in 1989 using 22 years of observations. This paper traces the evolution of this method from its birth in 1974 to its current use as a space weather forecasting technique. This paper is taken from an invited talk at the joint session of the Historical Astronomy Division and the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society during its 224th meeting in Boston, MA, on 3 June 2014.