The theory of nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (NI MHD) was developed largely in the early 1990s, together with an important extension to inhomogeneous flows in 2010. Much of the focus in the earlier work was to understand the apparent incompressibility of the solar wind and other plasma environments, and the relationship of density fluctuations to apparently incompressible manifestations of turbulence in the solar wind and interstellar medium. Further important predictions about the “dimensionality” of solar wind turbulence and its relationship to the plasma beta were made and subsequently confirmed observationally. However, despite the initial success of NI MHD in describing fluctuations in the solar wind, a detailed application to solar wind turbulence has not been undertaken. Here, we use the equations of NI MHD to describe solar wind turbulence, rewriting the NI MHD system in terms of Elsässer variables. Distinct descriptions of 2D and slab turbulence emerge naturally from the Elsässer formulation, as do the nonlinear couplings between 2D and slab components. For plasma beta order 1 or less regions, predictions for 2D and slab spectra result from the NI MHD description, and predictions for the spectral characteristics of density fluctuations can be made. We conclude by presenting a NI MHD formulation describing the transport of majority 2D and minority slab turbulence throughout the solar wind. A preliminary comparison of theory and observations is presented.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the most important drivers of various types of space weather disturbance. Here we report a newly developed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the solar wind, including a series of multiple CMEs with internal spheromak‐type magnetic fields. First, the polarity of the spheromak magnetic field is set as determined automatically according to the Hale‐Nicholson law and the chirality law of Bothmer and Schwenn. The MHD simulation is therefore capable of predicting the time profile of the southward interplanetary magnetic field at the Earth, in relation to the passage of a magnetic cloud within a CME. This profile is the most important parameter for space weather forecasts of magnetic storms. In order to evaluate the current ability of our simulation, we demonstrate a test case: the propagation and interaction process of multiple CMEs associated with the highly complex active region NOAA 10486 in October to November 2003, and present the result of a simulation of the solar wind parameters at the Earth during the 2003 Halloween storms. We succeeded in reproducing the arrival at the Earth's position of a large amount of southward magnetic flux, which is capable of causing an intense magnetic storm. We find that the observed complex time profile of the solar wind parameters at the Earth could be reasonably well understood by the interaction of a few specific CMEs.

We report on the first simultaneous observation of an Hα Moreton wave, the corresponding EUV fast coronal waves, and a slow and bright EUV wave (typical EIT wave). Associated with an X6.9 flare that occurred on 2011 August 9 at the active region NOAA 11263, we observed a Moreton wave in the Hα images taken by the Solar Magnetic Activity Research Telescope (SMART) at Hida Observatory of Kyoto University. In the EUV images obtained by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) we found not only the corresponding EUV fast "bright" coronal wave, but also the EUV fast "faint" wave that is not associated with the Hα Moreton wave. We also found a slow EUV wave, which corresponds to a typical EIT wave. Furthermore, we observed, for the first time, the oscillations of a prominence and a filament, simultaneously, both in the Hα and EUV images. To trigger the oscillations by the flare-associated coronal disturbance, we expect a coronal wave as fast as the fast-mode MHD wave with the velocity of about 570 -800 km s −1 . These velocities are consistent with those of the observed Moreton wave and the EUV fast coronal wave.

We propose a “pileup accident” hypothesis, based on the solar wind data analysis and magnetohydrodynamics modeling, to explain unexpectedly geoeffective solar wind structure which caused the largest magnetic storm so far during the solar cycle 24 on 17 March 2015: First, a fast coronal mass ejection with strong southward magnetic fields both in the sheath and in the ejecta was followed by a high‐speed stream from a nearby coronal hole. This combination resulted in less adiabatic expansion than usual to keep the high speed, strong magnetic field, and high density within the coronal mass ejection. Second, preceding slow and high‐density solar wind was piled up ahead of the coronal mass ejection just before the arrival at the Earth to further enhance its magnetic field and density. Finally, the enhanced solar wind speed, magnetic field, and density worked all together to drive the major magnetic storm.

A new model describing the transport and evolution of turbulence in the quiet solar corona is presented. In the low plasma beta environment, transverse photospheric convective fluid motions drive predominantly quasi-2D (nonpropagating) turbulence in the mixed-polarity “magnetic carpet,” together with a minority slab (Alfvénic) component. We use a simplified sub-Alfvénic flow velocity profile to solve transport equations describing the evolution and dissipation of turbulence from (including the Alfvén surface). Typical coronal base parameters are used, although one model uses correlation lengths derived observationally by Abramenko et al., and the other assumes values 10 times larger. The model predicts that (1) the majority quasi-2D turbulence evolves from a balanced state at the coronal base to an imbalanced state, with outward fluctuations dominating, at and beyond the Alfvén surface, i.e., inward turbulent fluctuations are dissipated preferentially; (2) the initially imbalanced slab component remains imbalanced throughout the solar corona, being dominated by outwardly propagating Alfvén waves, and wave reflection is weak; (3) quasi-2D turbulence becomes increasingly magnetized, and beyond , the kinetic energy is mainly in slab fluctuations; (4) there is no accumulation of inward energy at the Alfvén surface; (5) inertial range quasi-2D rather than slab fluctuations are preferentially dissipated within ; and (6) turbulent dissipation of quasi-2D fluctuations is sufficient to heat the corona to temperatures K within , consistent with observations that suggest that the fast solar wind is accelerated most efficiently between .