HELIOSHEATH MAGNETIC FIELD AND PLASMA OBSERVED BY VOYAGER 2 DURING 2012 IN THE RISING PHASE OF SOLAR CYCLE 24

We discuss magnetic field and plasma observations of the heliosheath made by Voyager 2 (V2) during 2012, when V2 was observing the effects of increasing solar activity following the solar minimum in 2009. The average magnetic field strength B was 0.14 nT and B reached 0.29 nT on day 249. V2 was in a unipolar region in which the magnetic polarity was directed away from the Sun along the Parker spiral 88% of the time, indicating that V2 was poleward of the heliospheric current sheet throughout most of 2012. The magnetic flux at V2 during 2012 was constant. A merged interaction region (MIR) was observed, and the flow speed increased as the MIR moved past V2. The MIR caused a decrease in the > 70 MeV nuc(-1) cosmic-ray intensity. The increments of B can be described by a q-Gaussian distribution with q = 1.2 +/- 0.1 for daily averages and q = 1.82 +/- 0.03 for hour averages. Eight isolated current sheets ("PBLs") and four closely spaced pairs of current sheets were observed. The average change of B across the current sheets was a factor of approximate to 2, and B increased or decreased with equal probability. Magnetic holes and magnetic humps were also observed. The characteristic size of the PBLs was approximate to 6 R-L, where R-L is the Larmor radius of protons, and the characteristic sizes of the magnetic holes and humps were approximate to 38 R-L and approximate to 11 R-L, respectively.