COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF CORONAL MASS EJECTION MASS AND ENERGY PROPERTIES OVER A FULL SOLAR CYCLE

By A. Vourlidas, R. Howard, E. Esfandiari, S. Patsourakos, S. Yashiro, G. Michalek. 2010

217 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The LASCO coronagraphs, in continuous operation since 1995, have observed the evolution of the solar corona and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) over a full solar cycle with high-quality images and regular cadence. This is the first time that such a data set becomes available and constitutes a unique resource for the study of CMEs. In this paper, we present a comprehensive investigation of the solar cycle dependence on the CME mass and energy over a full solar cycle (1996–2009) including the first in-depth discussion of the mass and energy analysis methods and their associated errors. Our analysis provides several results worthy of further studies. It demonstrates the possible existence of two event classes: “normal” CMEs reaching constant mass for >10 R☉ and “pseudo”-CMEs which disappear in the C3 field of view. It shows that the mass and energy properties of CME reach constant levels and therefore should be measured only above ∼10 R☉. The mass density (g/R2☉) of CMEs varies relatively little (< order of magnitude) suggesting that the majority of the mass originates from a small range in coronal heights. We find a sudden reduction in the CME mass in mid-2003 which may be related to a change in the electron content of the large-scale corona and we uncover the presence of a 6 month periodicity in the ejected mass from 2003 onward.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c9f15268f34f51f7812e2b10c4f270d3f57af49b

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Citations in the corpus

The standard flare model in three dimensions II: upper limit on solar flare energy (2012, background): “…flare-related irradiance enhancements (Woods et al. 2004), solar energetic particles (SEPs, Masson et al. 2009) and coronal mass ejections (CMEs, Vourlidas et al. 2010) constitute major drivers for space weather, and are responsible for various environmental hazards at Earth (Schwenn 2006;…”
The magnetic field in the solar atmosphere (2014, background): “inside is partially or completely expelled from the Sun. CMEs involve the expulsion of huge masses of coronal plasma into interplanetary space, spanning the range of roughly ˇ1012 kg to ˇ1016 kg (see Vourlidas et al., 2010, 2011, for a comprehensive analysis of CME masses during a full solar cycle).”
Space weather: the solar perspective (2021, background): “…the coronagraphic field of view, CME fronts reveal radial speeds in the range of 300–500 km/s with maximum values observed up to 3000 km/s, accelerations of the order of 0:1 10 km=s2, angular widths of about 30–65 degrees and masses of 1014 1016 g (e.g., Vourlidas et al. 2010; Lamy et al. 2019).”
How Many CMEs Have Flux Ropes? Deciphering the Signatures of Shocks, Flux Ropes, and Prominences in Coronagraph Observations of CMEs (2012, methodology): “Based on the work presented here and in Vourlidas et al. (2010), we propose the following definition: We define an FR-CME to be the eruption of a coherent magnetic, twistcarrying coronal structure with angular width of at least 40◦ and able to reach beyond 10 R which occurs on a time scale of a few…”
GLOBAL ENERGETICS OF THIRTY-EIGHT LARGE SOLAR ERUPTIVE EVENTS (2012, methodology): “The mass underestimation is about a factor of 2 for CMEs that are ∼< 40◦ from the sky plane (Vourlidas et al. 2010).”
DIRECT EVIDENCE FOR A FAST CORONAL MASS EJECTION DRIVEN BY THE PRIOR FORMATION AND SUBSEQUENT DESTABILIZATION OF A MAGNETIC FLUX ROPE (2012, result): “These observations are consistent with the ’failed CME’ events identified in Vourlidas et al. (2010).”
The standard flare model in three dimensions - I. Strong-to-weak shear transition in post-flare loops (2012, background): “Key words. magnetic reconnection – magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) – Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – Sun: flares – Sun: UV radiation”
Coronal Mass Ejections: Observations (2012, background): “…rates, locations relative to the solar disk, angular widths, speeds and accelerations, masses, and energies (e.g., Hundhausen, 1972; Kahler, 1992; St Cyr et al., 2000; Webb, 2002; Yashiro et al., 2004; Gopalswamy et al., 2005, 2006b; Gopalswamy, 2010b; Kahler, 2006; Vourlidas et al., 2010).”