The northern edge of the band of solar wind variability: Ulysses at ∼4.5 AU

Ulysses observations reveal that the northern edge of the low-latitude band of solar wind variability at ∼4.5 AU was located at N30° in the latter part of 1996 when solar activity was at a minimum. This edge latitude is intermediate between edge latitudes found during previous encounters with the band edge along different portions of Ulysses' polar orbit about the Sun. Corotating interaction regions, CIRs, near the northern edge of the band were tilted in such a manner that the forward and reverse shocks bounding the CIRs were propagating equatorward and poleward, respectively, providing definite confirmation that CIRs have opposed tilts in the opposite solar hemispheres. No shocks or coronal mass ejections, CMEs, were detected during the ∼1.5 y traverse of the northern, high-latitude northern hemisphere; however, at the northern edge of the band of variability an expanding CME was observed that was driving a shock into the high-speed wind.