THE SOURCE REGIONS OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 459-466
Author(s):  
GUIPING ZHOU

Coronal Mass Ejection is an entire process leading to the ejection of mass and magnetic flux into interplanetary space. Its source is studied by analyzing the associated surface activity. Analysis results show that CMEs have large-scale magnetic source structures, which provide their energy, initiation, and final angular width. This paper review the studies of CME source regions with laying emphasis on their large-scale source structures.

1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 16-16
Author(s):  
A. J. Hundhausen ◽  
D. G. Sime ◽  
B. C. Low

In addition to the more or less steady solar wind, the Sun also ejects mass in highly time dependent events taking place in the corona once every few days at solar activity minimum and as often as three times a day at solar activity maximum (Hundhausen 1988, Low 1986). These events involve large scale reconfiguration of the corona with an expulsion of some 1015g of ionized material into interplanetary space. The High Altitude Observatory (HAO) operates a groundbased internally occulted coronagraph at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, with a field of view of the corona from 1.2 to 2.2R⊙ in heliocentric distance, registering polarization brightness. A second instrument at the same site in Hawaii observes the solar limb in Hα emission to detect chromospheric material from the limb out to 1.5R⊙. HAO also operates an externally occulted coronagraph/polarimeter onboard the NASA Solar Maximum Mission Satellite (SMM) launched in 1980, capitalizing on the advantage of space with a field of view from 1.5 to 6R⊙ to cover the fainter outer corona. Coronal mass ejections involve magnetic field reconfiguration from high in the corona down to the base lying below 1.1R⊙. Important physical insights can be had when simultaneous observations by HAO's three instruments are put together with a common scale and orientation to reveal a mass ejection in the full extent of the solar atmosphere from the limb outward. Combined observations of two mass ejections are presented, one associated with an eruptive prominence and the the other associated with a flare. The significance of these two events is that in both cases, the mass ejection was in fully developed motion and had traveled high into the corona well before the onset of the associated prominence or flare eruption, pointing to an instability in the large scale coronal magnetic field as the underlying cause of the global reconfiguration.


Solar Physics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravindra T. Desai ◽  
Han Zhang ◽  
Emma E. Davies ◽  
Julia E. Stawarz ◽  
Joan Mico-Gomez ◽  
...  

Abstract Predicting the large-scale eruptions from the solar corona and their propagation through interplanetary space remains an outstanding challenge in solar- and helio-physics research. In this article, we describe three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the inner heliosphere leading up to and including the extreme interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) of 23 July 2012, developed using the code PLUTO. The simulations are driven using the output of coronal models for Carrington rotations 2125 and 2126 and, given the uncertainties in the initial conditions, are able to reproduce an event of comparable magnitude to the 23 July ICME, with similar velocity and density profiles at 1 au. The launch time of this event is then varied with regards to an initial 19 July ICME and the effects of solar wind preconditioning are found to be significant for an event of this magnitude and to decrease over a time-window consistent with the ballistic refilling of the depleted heliospheric sector. These results indicate that the 23 July ICME was mostly unaffected by events prior, but would have traveled even faster had it erupted closer in time to the 19 July event where it would have experienced even lower drag forces. We discuss this systematic study of solar wind preconditioning in the context of space weather forecasting.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
D. M. Rust

AbstractSolar filaments are discussed in terms of two contrasting paradigms. The standard paradigm is that filaments are formed by condensation of coronal plasma into magnetic fields that are twisted or dimpled as a consequence of motions of the fields’ sources in the photosphere. According to a new paradigm, filaments form in rising, twisted flux ropes and are a necessary intermediate stage in the transfer to interplanetary space of dynamo-generated magnetic flux. It is argued that the accumulation of magnetic helicity in filaments and their coronal surroundings leads to filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections. These ejections relieve the Sun of the flux generated by the dynamo and make way for the flux of the next cycle.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S300) ◽  
pp. 209-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucie M. Green ◽  
Bernhard Kliem

AbstractUnderstanding the magnetic configuration of the source regions of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is vital in order to determine the trigger and driver of these events. Observations of four CME productive active regions are presented here, which indicate that the pre-eruption magnetic configuration is that of a magnetic flux rope. The flux ropes are formed in the solar atmosphere by the process known as flux cancellation and are stable for several hours before the eruption. The observations also indicate that the magnetic structure that erupts is not the entire flux rope as initially formed, raising the question of whether the flux rope is able to undergo a partial eruption or whether it undergoes a transition in specific flux rope configuration shortly before the CME.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3077-3088 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. van Driel-Gesztelyi ◽  
G. D. R. Attrill ◽  
P. Démoulin ◽  
C. H. Mandrini ◽  
L. K. Harra

Abstract. The apparent contradiction between small-scale source regions of, and large-scale coronal response to, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) has been a long-standing puzzle. For some, CMEs are considered to be inherently large-scale events – eruptions in which a number of flux systems participate in an unspecified manner, while others consider magnetic reconnection in special global topologies to be responsible for the large-scale response of the lower corona to CME events. Some of these ideas may indeed be correct in specific cases. However, what is the key element which makes CMEs large-scale? Observations show that the extent of the coronal disturbance matches the angular width of the CME – an important clue, which does not feature strongly in any of the above suggestions. We review observational evidence for the large-scale nature of CME source regions and find them lacking. Then we compare different ideas regarding how CMEs evolve to become large-scale. The large-scale magnetic topology plays an important role in this process. There is amounting evidence, however, that the key process is magnetic reconnection between the CME and other magnetic structures. We outline a CME evolution model, which is able to account for all the key observational signatures of large-scale CMEs and presents a clear picture how large portions of the Sun become constituents of the CME. In this model reconnection is driven by the expansion of the CME core resulting from an over-pressure relative to the pressure in the CME's surroundings. This implies that the extent of the lower coronal signatures match the final angular width of the CME.


2004 ◽  
Vol 2004 (IAUS226) ◽  
pp. 200-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiping Zhou ◽  
Jingxiu Wang ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Chijie Xiao

1997 ◽  
Vol 490 (2) ◽  
pp. L191-L194 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Chen ◽  
R. A. Howard ◽  
G. E. Brueckner ◽  
R. Santoro ◽  
J. Krall ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-242
Author(s):  
V.K. Verma ◽  
M.C. Pande

AbstractThe coronal mass ejection (CME) data and the data for coronal holes for the period 1979-1982 are compared locationwise. Out of 79 CMEs whose locations and spans are known, 48 (61%) CMEs are associated with coronal holes. We make a tentative suggestion that probably the mass ejected during solar flares and active prominences may move along the open magnetic field of the coronal holes and appear as CMEs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (12) ◽  
pp. 2308-2312
Author(s):  
C.Q. Xiang ◽  
F.S. Wei ◽  
X.S. Feng ◽  
J.F. Wang

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