Tracking Coronal Features From the Low Corona to Earth: A Quantitative Analysis of the 2008 December 12 Coronal Mass Ejection

DeForest, C. E.; Howard, T. A.; McComas, D. J.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/769/1/43

Cited by 92 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…The mass of the CME increased by an order of magnitude. An increasing mass with distance was also found for the CME investigated by DeForest et al (2013), but they reported only a 2.5 fold increase. The excess mass reported here could be due to contamination from the stellar and planetary backgrounds, although the results were not vastly different from the running difference measurements.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…The cause of the increasing mass of the CME is generally accepted as solar wind material that is acreted ahead of the CME driver (its flux rope) as it expands through the heliosphere (e.g., Lugaz et al 2005;Tappin 2006;Howard et al 2007;DeForest et al 2013), as the CME measurements, including those made in the present study, typically include the so-called "sheath" component. This is evidenced by the substantial increase in the density of just the flank of the CME shown in Figure 2.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This was briefly touched on in Section 2. The CME mass measurements made by DeForest et al (2013) took advantage of a new HI processing pipeline that removes the stars and background F corona from the HI images, vastly improving our confidence in photometric brightness measurements of the CME and other features. At the time of writing, however, this pipeline was available only for STEREO-A (the pipeline for STEREO-B is under development).…”

Section: Uncertainties In Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring an Eruptive Prominence at Large Distances From the Sun. Ii. Approaching 1 Au

Howard

2015

ApJ

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The physical properties of eruptive prominences are unknown at large distances from the Sun. They are rarely, if ever, measured by in situ spacecraft and until recently our ability to measure them beyond the fields of view of solar imagers has been severely limited. The data quality of heliospheric imaging has reached a point where some quantitative measurements of prominences are now possible. I present the first such measurements of a bright prominence continually out to distances of around 1 AU from the Sun. This work follows on from the preparatory work presented in an accompanying paper, which showed that that the brightness of a prominence can be safely assumed to arise entirely from Thomson scattering in the STEREO/HI fields of view. Measurements of distance, speed, and mass are provided along with those from its accompanying coronal mass ejection (CME) to demonstrate their geometric, kinematic, and mass relationships. I find that the prominence travels with a slower speed than that of the CME, but its location relative to the CME structure does not conform to the expected location for basic geometric expansion. Further, the mass of the prominence was found to decrease by around an order of magnitude while that of the CME increased by an order of magnitude across the same distance.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Uncertainties In Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring an Eruptive Prominence at Large Distances From the Sun. Ii. Approaching 1 Au

Howard

2015

ApJ

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“…An example of a particularly well observed CME/ICME pair is found in the 12-18 December 2008 event, which serves to highlight a range of physical processes governing the evolution of these phenomena (e.g., Byrne et al 2010;Liu et al 2010a,b;DeForest et al 2011DeForest et al , 2013Howard and DeForest 2012). In this case, STEREO data is utilized to make a convincing connection between the solar eruption and the disturbance observed at Earth.…”

Section: Structure Of Cmes To Icmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Physical Processes of CME/ICME Evolution

et al. 2017

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As observed in Thomson-scattered white light, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are manifest as large-scale expulsions of plasma magnetically driven from the corona in the most energetic eruptions from the Sun. It remains a tantalizing mystery as to how these erupting magnetic fields evolve to form the complex structures we observe in the solar wind at Earth. Here, we strive to provide a fresh perspective on the post-eruption and interplanetary evolution of CMEs, focusing on the physical processes that define the many complex interactions of the ejected plasma with its surroundings as it departs the corona and propagates through the heliosphere. We summarize the ways CMEs and their interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) are rotated, reconfigured, deformed, deflected, decelerated and disguised during their journey through the solar wind. This study then leads to consideration of how structures originating in coronal eruptions can be connected to their far removed interplanetary counterparts. Given that ICMEs are the drivers of most geomagnetic storms (and the sole driver of extreme storms), this work provides a guide to the processes that must be considered in making space weather forecasts from remote observations of the corona.

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“…For us to produce this narrative we relied on sophisticated processing of the white light data, careful observation and tracking of features in the EUV images, utilization of the in-situ datasets (see DeForest et al 2013a), knowledge of the various onset mechanisms that have been modeled for CMEs, and some luck as to have the STEREO spacecraft in the right viewpoints for optimally observing this particular flux rope. It is this kind of effort that will be required for the development of future CME geometry and eruption narrative reconstruction.…”

Section: Putting It All Togethermentioning

confidence: 99%

Regarding the detectability and measurement of coronal mass ejections

Howard

2015

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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In this review I discuss the problems associated with the detection and measurement of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). CMEs are important phenomena both scientifically, as they play a crucial role in the evolution of the solar corona, and technologically, as their impact with the Earth leads to severe space weather activity in the form of magnetic storms. I focus on the observation of CMEs using visible white light imagers (coronagraphs and heliospheric imagers), as they may be regarded as the binding agents between different datasets and different models that are used to reconstruct them. Our ability to accurately measure CMEs observed by these imagers is hampered by many factors, from instrumental to geometrical to physical. Following a brief review of the history of CME observation and measurement, I explore the impediments to our ability to measure them and describe possible means for which we may be able to mitigate those impediments. I conclude with a discussion of the claim that we have reached the limit of the information that we can extract from the current generation of white light imagers, and discuss possible ways forward regarding future instrument capabilities.

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Tracking Coronal Features From the Low Corona to Earth: A Quantitative Analysis of the 2008 December 12 Coronal Mass Ejection

Cited by 92 publications

References 70 publications

Measuring an Eruptive Prominence at Large Distances From the Sun. Ii. Approaching 1 Au

Measuring an Eruptive Prominence at Large Distances From the Sun. Ii. Approaching 1 Au

The Physical Processes of CME/ICME Evolution

Regarding the detectability and measurement of coronal mass ejections

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