Control of terrestrial low frequency bursts by solar wind speed

Using WIND spacecraft data from the WAVES, SWE, and MFI experiments for the period from January through July, 1995, we show that the occurrence of the terrestrial low frequency (LF) radio bursts is controlled primarily by the solar wind speed. A possible secondary factor in determining the occurrence of the bursts is the direction of the IMF in the x‐y plane, with the ‘toward’ direction (B y < 0) favored. The correlation with bulk speed suggests, on a gross scale, a viscous‐like coupling mechanism between the solar wind and the magnetosphere. In terms of the nature of the solar wind correlation, terrestrial LF bursts strongly resemble the Earth's AKR and Jovian quasi‐periodic bursts.