The Solar Wind consists
of particles from the Sun travelling through the solar
system. The particles originate in the solar atmosphere
and are accelerated to velocities of several hundred
kilometers per second. They maintain this velocity through
the solar system while their density gradually decreases
the further they move away from the sun.
The solar wind is divided into two different forms:
The fast and the slow solar wind. The fast solar wind
originates in so called coronal holes and causes recurrent
structures in the data with a frequency corresponding
to the 27 day rotation period of the sun.
The solar wind causes a magnetic field. It’s orientation
is measured relative to magnetic field of the Earth
and determines how much the Earth is affected by the
solar wind.
The data used in this project are speed and proton density
of the solar wind along with the magnitude and orientation
of the magnetic field. The data consist of daily averages
of the solar wind parameters measured by various spacecrafts
near the earths orbit. The data were provided by the
National Space Science Data Center through the OMNIWeb
database.
Visualization:
The images depict the four measured values mentioned
above. The Orientation relative to the magnetic field
of the earth is shown in the angle of all vertical lines.
The strength of the magnetic field corresponds to their
length. The width of the inner ribbon is the velocity
of the protons and the distances between the 10 lines
describe the density of the proton flow. The colours
are changed to grey if the measurements had to be interpolated.
An interpolated angle is indicated by a point in the
centre.
Sonification:
The strength of the magnetic field controls a double
bass that can be heard from behind the projection of
the solar wind. A cello is controlled by the density
of the proton flow. Its velocity is played by a violin.
Both cross the room in a quadrophonic setup. The sounds
mentioned above are modulated in pitch and volume. The
sound of the violin is modified by granular synthesis
and is spatialized by the orientation of the magnetic
field measurement.
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