scholarly journals Reconstruction of magnetic clouds from in-situ spacecraft measurements and intercomparison with their solar sources

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S300) ◽  
pp. 269-272
Author(s):  
Qiang Hu ◽  
Jiong Qiu

AbstractCoronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are eruptive events that originate, propagate away from the Sun, and carry along solar material with embedded solar magnetic field. Some are accompanied by prominence eruptions. A subset of the interplanetary counterparts of CMEs (ICMEs), so-called Magnetic Clouds (MCs) can be characterized by magnetic flux-rope structures. We apply the Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction technique to examine the configuration of MCs and to derive relevant physical quantities, such as magnetic flux content, relative magnetic helicity, and the field-line twist, etc. Both observational analyses of solar source region characteristics including flaring and associated magnetic reconnection process, and the corresponding MC structures were carried out. We summarize the main properties of selected events with and without associated prominence eruptions. In particular, we show the field-line twist distribution and the intercomparison of magnetic flux for these flux-rope structures.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Bothmer

<div> <p><span>Magnetic clouds are transient solar wind flows in the interplanetary medium with smooth rotations of the magnetic field vector and low plasma beta values. The analysis of magnetic clouds identified in the data of the two Helios spacecraft between 0.3 and 1 AU showed that they can be interpreted to first order by force-free, large-scale, cylindrical magnetic flux tubes. A close correlation of their occurrences was found with disappearing filaments at the Sun. The magnetic clouds that originated from the northern solar hemisphere showed predominantly left-handed magnetic helicities and the ones from the southern hemisphere predominantly right-handed ones. They were often preceded by an interplanetary shock wave and some were found to be directly following a coronal mass ejection towards the Helios spacecraft as detected by the Solwind coronagraph on board the P78-1 satellite. With the SOHO mission unprecedented long-term observations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were taken with the LASCO coronagraphs, with a spatial and time resolution that allowed to investigate their internal white-light fine structure. With complementary photospheric and EUV observations from SOHO, CMEs were found to arise from pre-existing small scale loop systems, overlying regions of opposite magnetic polarities. From the characteristic pattern of their source regions in both solar hemispheres, a generic scheme was presented in which their projected white-light topology depends primarily on the orientation and position of the source region’s neutral line on the solar disk. Based on this interpretation the graduated cylindrical shell method was developed, which allowed to model the electron density distribution of CMEs as 3D flux ropes. This concept was validated through stereoscopic observations of CMEs taken by the coronagraphs of the SECCHI remote sensing suite on board the twin STEREO spacecraft. The observations further revealed that the dynamic near-Sun evolution of CMEs often leads to distortions of their flux rope structure. However, the magnetic flux rope concept of CMEs is today one of the fundamental methods in space weather forecasts. With the Parker Solar Probe we currently observe for the first time CMEs in-situ and remotely at their birthplaces in the solar corona and can further unravel their origin and evolution from the corona into the heliosphere. This lecture provides a state-of-the-art overview on the magnetic structure of CMEs and includes latest observations from the Parker Solar Probe mission.</span></p> </div>


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S257) ◽  
pp. 265-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina H. Mandrini ◽  
María S. Nakwacki ◽  
Gemma Attrill ◽  
Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi ◽  
Sergio Dasso ◽  
...  

AbstractCoronal dimmings often develop in the vicinity of erupting magnetic configurations. It has been suggested that they mark the location of the footpoints of ejected flux ropes and, thus, their magnetic flux can be used as a proxy for the ejected flux. If so, this quantity can be compared to the flux in the associated interplanetary magnetic cloud (MC) to find clues about the origin of the ejected flux rope. In the context of this interpretation, we present several events for which we have done a comparative solar-interplanetary analysis. We combine SOHO/Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) data and Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) magnetic maps to identify and measure the flux in the dimmed regions. We model the associated MCs and compute their magnetic flux using in situ observations. We find that the magnetic fluxes in the dimmings and MCs are compatible in some events; though this is not the case for large-scale and intense eruptions that occur in regions that are not isolated from others. We conclude that, in these particular cases, a fraction of the dimmed regions can be formed by reconnection between the erupting field and the surrounding magnetic structures, via a stepping process that can also explain other CME associated events.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 4057-4067 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Owens ◽  
N. U. Crooker ◽  
T. S. Horbury

Abstract. Magnetic clouds are a subset of interplanetary coronal mass ejections characterized by a smooth rotation in the magnetic field direction, which is interpreted as a signature of a magnetic flux rope. Suprathermal electron observations indicate that one or both ends of a magnetic cloud typically remain connected to the Sun as it moves out through the heliosphere. With distance from the axis of the flux rope, out toward its edge, the magnetic field winds more tightly about the axis and electrons must traverse longer magnetic field lines to reach the same heliocentric distance. This increased time of flight allows greater pitch-angle scattering to occur, meaning suprathermal electron pitch-angle distributions should be systematically broader at the edges of the flux rope than at the axis. We model this effect with an analytical magnetic flux rope model and a numerical scheme for suprathermal electron pitch-angle scattering and find that the signature of a magnetic flux rope should be observable with the typical pitch-angle resolution of suprathermal electron data provided ACE's SWEPAM instrument. Evidence of this signature in the observations, however, is weak, possibly because reconnection of magnetic fields within the flux rope acts to intermix flux tubes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 100 (A7) ◽  
pp. 12293 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Farrugia ◽  
V. A. Osherovich ◽  
L. F. Burlaga

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Qiang Hu ◽  
Lingling Zhao

<p>Magnetic flux rope, formed by the helical magnetic field lines, can sometimes remain its shape while carrying significant plasma flow that is aligned with the local magnetic field. We report the existence of such structures and static flux ropes by applying the Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in-situ measurements in the first five encounters. These structures are detected at heliocentric distances, ranging from 0.13 to 0.66 au, in a total of 4-month time period. We find that flux ropes with field-aligned flows have certain properties similar to those of static flux ropes, such as the decaying relations of the magnetic fields within structures with respect to heliocentric distances. Moreover, these events are more likely with magnetic pressure dominating over the thermal pressure and occurring more frequently in the relatively fast-speed solar wind. Taking into account the high Alfvenicity, we also compare these events with switchbacks and present the cross-section maps via the new Grad-Shafranov type reconstruction. Finally, the possible evolution and relaxation of the magnetic flux rope structures are discussed.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 808 (1) ◽  
pp. L15 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Q. SONG ◽  
Y. CHEN ◽  
J. ZHANG ◽  
X. CHENG ◽  
B. Wang ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3139-3152 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Möstl ◽  
C. Miklenic ◽  
C. J. Farrugia ◽  
M. Temmer ◽  
A. Veronig ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper compares properties of the source region with those inferred from satellite observations near Earth of the magnetic cloud which reached 1 AU on 20 November 2003. We use observations from space missions SOHO and TRACE together with ground-based data to study the magnetic structure of the active region NOAA 10501 containing a highly curved filament, and determine the reconnection rates and fluxes in an M4 flare on 18 November 2003 which is associated with a fast halo CME. This event has been linked before to the magnetic cloud on 20 November 2003. We model the near-Earth observations with the Grad-Shafranov reconstruction technique using a novel approach in which we optimize the results with two-spacecraft measurements of the solar wind plasma and magnetic field made by ACE and WIND. The two probes were separated by hundreds of Earth radii. They pass through the axis of the cloud which is inclined −50 degree to the ecliptic. The magnetic cloud orientation at 1 AU is consistent with an encounter with the heliospheric current sheet. We estimate that 50% of its poloidal flux has been lost through reconnection in interplanetary space. By comparing the flare ribbon flux with the original cloud fluxes we infer a flux rope formation during the eruption, though uncertainties are still significant. The multi-spacecraft Grad-Shafranov method opens new vistas in probing of the spatial structure of magnetic clouds in STEREO-WIND/ACE coordinated studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wensi Wang ◽  
Rui Liu ◽  
Yuming Wang ◽  
Qiang Hu ◽  
Chenglong Shen ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S300) ◽  
pp. 265-268
Author(s):  
Miho Janvier ◽  
Pascal Démoulin ◽  
Sergio Dasso

AbstractMagnetic clouds (MCs) consist of flux ropes that are ejected from the low solar corona during eruptive flares. Following their ejection, they propagate in the interplanetary medium where they can be detected by in situ instruments and heliospheric imagers onboard spacecraft. Although in situ measurements give a wide range of data, these only depict the nature of the MC along the unidirectional trajectory crossing of a spacecraft. As such, direct 3D measurements of MC characteristics are impossible. From a statistical analysis of a wide range of MCs detected at 1 AU by the Wind spacecraft, we propose different methods to deduce the most probable magnetic cloud axis shape. These methods include the comparison of synthetic distributions with observed distributions of the axis orientation, as well as the direct integration of observed probability distribution to deduce the global MC axis shape. The overall shape given by those two methods is then compared with 2D heliospheric images of a propagating MC and we find similar geometrical features.


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