Preliminary Observations of the Effects of a Corotating Stream on Interplanetary Scintillation

Abstract

Since its discovery in 1964, interplanetary scintillation has become recognized as a valuable method for investigating the solar wind and the small-scale structure of the interplanetary medium. A particular advantage of the method lies in the ability to study those regions of the medium outside the plane of the ecliptic. To date little has been written about the relation between interplanetary scintillation and solar activity, although regular observations of the source 3C48 during 1965-6 have indicated that a small correlation may exist between the scintillation index and sunspot number. It also appears that anomalous increases in the scintillation index are, on occasion, related to strong flare activity on the Sun.