Stream interaction regions at high heliographic latitudes during Ulysses' second polar orbit

Ulysses observed well-defined stream interaction regions, SIRs, associated with solar wind stream structure up to a latitude of S65 degree and shocks to at least a latitude of S71 degree during the second polar orbit. These SIRs and shocks produced a substantial heliospheric processing of the solar wind. Only a subset of the SIRs recurred on successive solar rotations and only about half of the well-defined SIRs observed poleward of S9.8 degree were bounded by forward-reverse shock pairs. The majority of the SIRs had local magnetic topologies and azimuthal orientations similar to, but meridional tilts different from, those observed in the first polar orbit when most SIRs corotated with the Sun. The irregular meridional tilts presumably were a consequence of a complex coronal geometry and the temporally evolving nature of the solar wind flow at this time. A lack of reverse shocks poleward of S54 degree (with one exception) and a lack of well defined SIRs poleward of S65 degree is evidence that SIRs develop more slowly with distance at high latitudes.