Three Dimensional Propagation Characteristics of the Flare-Associated Interplanetary Shock Wave During 1978-1981

The three-dimensional propagation characteristics of the iflare-associated shock wave are studied from Japanese IPS data of 85 flares (importance > 2) events during the period of high-solar activity years of 1978-1981. In this paper, the influnences of the dynamical effects of shock wave propagation on. the IPS data are considered. The results show that: (1) the propagation of the shock wave is asymmetrical relative to the normal direction of the flare. With regard to longitude, -the fastest direction tends to that of the interplanetary magnetic field, and with regard to latitude it tends to that of the average position of the heliospherical current sheet during the period of 85 flare events; (2) propagating range of the latitudes ( - 60°-+40°) is less than that of the longitudes(>±90); (3) there are more marked east-west and south-north asymmetries in the distribution of the shock wave energy, which determine the aniso-tropies of the shock wave propagation. The average energy is about 2.7×10³¹ ergs/ster for the studied 85 flare-IPS shock wave events.These results are Wassieally consistent with that obtained by analysing American IBS data^[3], and also coincident with that of the spacecraft observations tod the indirect results of inverstigations 7-8. So it is reasonable to think that the magnetic structures near the sun and the interplanetary large-scale solar wind structures would exert significant modulating effects on the three-dimensional propagation of the shock wave.