Interplanetary coronal mass ejections in the near-Earth solar wind during the minimum periods following solar cycles 22 and 23

E K J Kilpua,Y Li,C O Lee,J G Luhmann

doi:10.5194/angeo-29-1455-2011

Abstract

Abstract. In this paper we examine the occurrence rates and properties of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) and solar activity levels during the minima following solar cycle 22 (January 1995–December 1997) and 23 (January 2007–April 2010) minima using observations from the OMNI data base. Throughout the minimum following cycle 22 the CME and ICME rates roughly tracked each other, while for the minimum following cycle 23 they diverged. During the minimum after solar cycle 23, there were large variations in the streamer belt structure. During the lowest activity period of cycle 23 (based on sunspot numbers), the ICME rate was about four times higher than during a similar activity period of cycle 22. We propose that this relatively high ICME rate may be due to CME source regions occurring at lower heliolatitudes and due to equatoward deflection of slow and weak CMEs originating from the mid- and high-heliolatitudes. The maximum magnetic fields of the ICMEs identified during the minimum following cycle 23 were ~30 % lower and their radial widths were ~15 % lower compared to the ICMEs observed during the minimum following solar cycle 22. The weak and small ICMEs may result from intrinsically weak CMEs and/or they may represent stronger CMEs that are encountered far away from the center.

Highlights

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are magnetized plasma clouds that are ejected from the Sun and propagate out into the heliosphere
While coronagraphs record CMEs launched to all heliospheric latitudes, the estimates of the interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) rate are typically based on single-spacecraft measurements carried out close to the ecliptic plane
The ICMEs were identified from the nearEarth spacecraft measurements close to the ecliptic plane

Summary

Introduction

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are magnetized plasma clouds that are ejected from the Sun and propagate out into the heliosphere. Around solar minimum the streamer belt configuration is typically flat and located near the solar equator During this time, the strong polar coronal fields guide the CMEs that originate from mid- and highlatitude source regions towards the equator (Plunkett et al, 2001; Cremades et al, 2005). Panel 1c shows a declining speed profile (speed difference between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the ICME is ∼ −40 km s−1) During this ICME interval, suprathermal electrons from the 3-DP instrument onboard the Wind spacecraft (data not shown) indicated a unidirectional heat flux flow, implying that magnetic field a) Bmag (nT).

Near-ecliptic ICME rate

Average ICME properties

Findings

Discussion and summary