T. Mulligan

MULTI-POINT SHOCK AND FLUX ROPE ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS AROUND 2010 AUGUST 1 IN THE INNER HELIOSPHERE

We present multi-point in situ observations of a complex sequence of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which may serve as a benchmark event for numerical and empirical space weather prediction models. On 2010 August 1, instruments on various space missions, Solar Dynamics Observatory/Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Solar-TErrestrial-RElations-Observatory (SDO/SOHO/STEREO), monitored several CMEs originating within tens of degrees from the solar disk center. We compare their imprints on four widely separated locations, spanning 120 degrees in heliospheric longitude, with radial distances from the Sun ranging from MESSENGER (0.38 AU) to Venus Express (VEX, at 0.72 AU) to Wind, ACE, and ARTEMIS near Earth and STEREO-B close to 1 AU. Calculating shock and flux rope parameters at each location points to a non-spherical shape of the shock, and shows the global configuration of the interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), which have interacted, but do not seem to have merged. VEX and STEREO-B observed similar magnetic flux ropes (MFRs), in contrast to structures at Wind. The geomagnetic storm was intense, reaching two minima in the Dst index (approximate to-100 nT), and was caused by the sheath region behind the shock and one of two observed MFRs. MESSENGER received a glancing blow of the ICMEs, and the events missed STEREO-A entirely. The observations demonstrate how sympathetic solar eruptions may immerse at least 1/3 of the heliosphere in the ecliptic with their distinct plasma and magnetic field signatures. We also emphasize the difficulties in linking the local views derived from single-spacecraft observations to a consistent global picture, pointing to possible alterations from the classical picture of ICMEs.

COMPARISON OF INTERPLANETARY DISTURBANCES AT THE NEAR SPACECRAFT WITH CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS AT THE SUN

We examined interplanetary (IP) magnetic field disturbances recorded by the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous-Shoemaker spacecraft (NEAR) when it was above either the east or west solar limb as seen from Earth; we then identified the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) detected above the limbs by the SOHO LASCO coronagraph. We found 10 cases in which a nonrecurring IP disturbance could be associated with a CME. Eight of the disturbances included a magnetic flux rope signature. Flux rope chirality and axis orientation were determined for each one and compared with chirality and axis orientation at the Sun, as inferred from flux rope signatures—filaments and sigmoids—that could be associated with the CMEs. In most cases, the chirality and orientation inferred from these preeruption flux rope signatures agreed well with the flux rope signatures at NEAR. These results suggest, in agreement with Plunkett and coworkers, that the flux ropes existed prior to eruption and that the flux ropes on the Sun become flux ropes in IP space. Comparisons of the CME speeds to the time-of-flight average speeds showed that flux ropes are less accelerated or decelerated by the solar wind than are the CME leading edges. These results imply that the faint features or loops that make up the CME leading edges are probably distinct from the flux ropes.

Intercomparison of NEAR and Wind interplanetary coronal mass ejection observations

Nearly 4 months of continuous interplanetary magnetic field measurements September 1997 through December 1997 have allowed us to compare four interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) events seen by the NEAR and Wind spacecraft. When the spacecraft are in close proximity (separated by 1° in azimuth relative to the sun) the ICMEs seen by Wind and NEAR have similar signatures as expected for structures with dimensions along the solar wind flow of ∼0.2 AU. When the NEAR spacecraft is separated by ∼5.4° in azimuth from the Earth the vector signature of ICMEs seen at NEAR begins to differ from those seen at Wind even though the magnitude of the field in the events and the background solar wind show similarities at the two spacecraft. When the spacecraft are separated by 11.3° the magnetic signatures are quite different and sometimes ICMEs are seen only at one of the two locations. Nevertheless, in all cases the magnetic helicity of the cloud structures seen at NEAR is the same as at Wind. The radial speeds of the shock and ICME leading edge as they cross Wind and the time delays of those events, for which we have some assurance that they also arrived at NEAR, indicate that the ICMEs decelerate measurably as they travel near 1 AU.

IONIC COMPOSITION STRUCTURE OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS IN AXISYMMETRIC MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC MODELS

We present the ionic charge state composition structure derived from axisymmetric MHD simulations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), initiated via the flux-cancellation and magnetic breakout mechanisms. The flux-cancellation CME simulation is run on the Magnetohydrodynamics-on-A-Sphere code developed at Predictive Sciences, Inc., and the magnetic breakout CME simulation is run on ARC7 developed at NASA GSFC. Both MHD codes include field-aligned thermal conduction, radiative losses, and coronal heating terms which make the energy equations sufficient to calculate reasonable temperatures associated with the steady-state solar wind and model the eruptive flare heating during CME formation and eruption. We systematically track a grid of Lagrangian plasma parcels through the simulation data and calculate the coronal density and temperature history of the plasma in and around the CME magnetic flux ropes. The simulation data are then used to integrate the continuity equations for the ionic charge states of several heavy ion species under the assumption that they act as passive tracers in the MHD flow. We construct two-dimensional spatial distributions of commonly measured ionic charge state ratios in carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron that are typically elevated in interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) plasma. We find that the slower CME eruption has relatively enhanced ionic charge states and the faster CME eruption shows basically no enhancement in charge states—which is the opposite trend to what is seen in the in situ ICME observations. The primary cause of the difference in the ionic charge states in the two simulations is not due to the different CME initiation mechanisms per se. Rather, the difference lies in their respective implementation of the coronal heating which governs the steady-state solar wind, density and temperature profiles, the duration of the connectivity of the CME to the eruptive flare current sheet, and the contribution of the flare-heated plasma associated with the reconnection jet outflow into the ejecta. Despite the limitations inherent in the first attempt at this novel procedure, the simulation results provide strong evidence in support of the conclusion that enhanced heavy ion charge states within CMEs are a direct consequence of flare heating in the low corona. We also discuss future improvements through combining numerical CME modeling with quantitative ionic charge state calculations.

In-flight calibration of the NEAR magnetometer

The science objectives for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Magnetometer Experiment (MAG) are to measure a possible magnetic field of 433 Eros to 5 nT accuracy and secondarily to detect asteroid-solar wind interaction signatures. Because the MAG sensor is body mounted, achieving this accuracy required detailed analysis of spacecraft magnetic fields during cruise. Sources of magnetic contamination identified prior to launch and during cruise are: propulsion latch valves, fixed 190 nT residual held, solar arrays and power harness, variable 15 to 60 nT field, power distribution terminal board, /spl sim/30 nT field with 5 nT variations, power shunting circuitry, 1-5 nT variations, the MAG sensor survival heater, 6 nT steps and attitude control momentum wheels, and 1 nT amplitude at 0.5 to 10 Hz from each of four wheels. Analysis of cruise data was used to create accurate /spl plusmn/1 nT models for the fixed and variable fields with signals below 0.5 Hz to provide correction of the raw data. The spacecraft field corrections and MAG calibration were validated with data from the Earth swing-by of January 1997. Comparison of solar wind magnetic held measurements from the WIND spacecraft and NEAR from January 22-24, 1997, before and after the Earth swing-by maneuver, confirm that the resulting NEAR magnetic field measurements are accurate to 1-2 nT.

Short‐period variability in the galactic cosmic ray intensity: High statistical resolution observations and interpretation around the time of a Forbush decrease in August 2006

On 20 August 2006 a Forbush decrease observed at Polar in the Earths magnetosphere was also seen at the INTEGRAL spacecraft outside the magnetosphere during a very active time in the solar wind. High-resolution energetic particle data from ACE SIS, the Polar high-sensitivity telescope, and INTEGRALs Ge detector saturation rate, which measures the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) background with a threshold of similar to 200 MeV, show similar, short-period GCR variations in and around the Forbush decrease. Focusing upon the GCR intensity within a 3-day interval from 19 August 2006 to 21 August 2006 reveals many intensity variations in the GCR on a variety of time scales and amplitudes. These intensity variations are greater than the 3 sigma error in all the data sets used. The fine structures in the GCR intensities along with the Forbush decrease are propagated outward from ACE to the Earth with very little change. The solar wind speed stays relatively constant during these periods, indicating that parcels of solar wind are transporting the GCR population outward in the heliosphere. This solar wind convection of GCR fine structure is observed for both increases and decreases in GCR intensity, and the fine structure increases and decreases are bracketed by solar wind magnetic field discontinuities associated with interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) magnetosheath regions, clearly seen as discontinuous rotations of the field components at ACE and at Wind. Interestingly, the electron heat flux shows different flux tube connectivity also associated with the different regions of the ICME and magnetosheath. Gosling et al. (2004) first discussed the idea that solar energetic particle intensities commonly undergo dispersionless modulation in direct association with discontinuous changes in the solar wind electron strahl. The observations show that the intensity levels in the GCR flux may undergo a similar partitioning, possibly because of the different magnetic field regions having differing magnetic topologies.

COMPOSITION STRUCTURE OF INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS FROM MULTISPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS, MODELING, AND COMPARISON WITH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS

We present an analysis of the ionic composition of iron for two interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) observed on 2007 May 21-23 by the ACE and STEREO spacecraft in the context of the magnetic structure of the ejecta flux rope, sheath region, and surrounding solar wind flow. This analysis is made possible due to recent advances in multispacecraft data interpolation, reconstruction, and visualization as well as results from recent modeling of ionic charge states in MHD simulations of magnetic breakout and flux cancellation coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation. We use these advances to interpret specific features of the ICME plasma composition resulting from the magnetic topology and evolution of the CME. We find that, in both the data and our MHD simulations, the flux ropes centers are relatively cool, while charge state enhancements surround and trail the flux ropes. The magnetic orientations of the ICMEs are suggestive of magnetic breakout-like reconnection during the eruption process, which could explain the spatial location of the observed iron enhancements just outside the traditional flux rope magnetic signatures and between the two ICMEs. Detailed comparisons between the simulations and data were more complicated, but a sharp increase in high iron charge states in the ACE and STEREO-A data during the second flux rope corresponds well to similar features in the flux cancellation results. We discuss the prospects of this integrated in situ data analysis and modeling approach to advancing our understanding of the unified CME-to-ICME evolution.

Diffusion Coefficients, Short-Term Cosmic Ray Modulation, and Convected Magnetic Structures

Three cases of large-amplitude, small spatial-scale interplanetary particle gradients observed by the anticoincidence shield (ACS) aboard the INTEGRAL spacecraft in 2006 are investigated. The high data rates provided by the INTEGRAL ACS allow an unprecedented ability to probe the fine structure of GCR propagation in the inner Heliosphere. For two of the three cases, calculating perpendicular and parallel cosmic ray diffusion coefficients based on both field and particle data results in parallel diffusion appearing to satisfy a convection gradient current balance, provided that the magnetic scattering of the particles can be described by quasi-linear theory. In the third case, perpendicular diffusion seems to dominate. The likelihood of magnetic flux rope topologies within solar ejecta affecting the local modulation is considered, and its importance in understanding the field-particle interaction for the astrophysics of nonthermal particle phenomena is discussed.

Multipoint Data Analysis and Modeling of the May and November 2007 ICMEs

The May and November 2007 ICMEs were observed by both STEREO spacecraft as well as the ACE spacecraft. Simultaneous magnetic cloud fits using a multispacecraft model indicate that the axis of the May 2007 flux rope was perpendicular to the plane of the sky, while axis of the November 2007 event was in the ecliptic plane. A new spatial mapping tool has been developed to understand in‐situ composition in terms of the overall magnetic structure of the ICME. The charges states are low for both of these events; though for the May 2007 event there were enhancements beyond the magnetic cloud, but within the ICME. The tools that have been developed in this effort have been proven useful for gaining insight into ICME structures.

Unusual Observations during the December 2006 Solar Energetic Particle Events within an Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection at 1 AU

In mid December 2006 several flares on the Sun occurred in rapid succession, spawning several CMEs and bathing the Earth in multiple solar energetic particle (SEP) events. One such SEP event occurring on December 14 was observed at the Earth just as an interplanetary CME (ICME) from a previous flare on December 13 was transiting the Earth. Although solar wind observations during this time show typical energetic proton fluxes from the prior SEP event and IP shock driven ahead of the ICME, as the ICME passes the Earth unusual energetic particle signatures are observed. Measurements from ACE, Wind, and STEREO show proton flux variations at energies ranging from ∼3 MeV up to greater than 70 MeV. Energetic electron signatures from ACE show similar variations. Within the Earth’s magnetosphere Polar HIST also sees these proton flux variations at energies greater than 10 MeV while crossing open field lines in the southern polar cap. Although no such variation in the energetic proton flux is observed at the GOES 11 spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit near the subsolar region, differential fluxes observed at GOES 11 and GOES 12 in the 15–40 MeV energy range do show some variability, indicating the signature is observable near dawn and dusk.