Streamer-blowout Coronal Mass Ejections: Their Properties and Relation to the Coronal Magnetic Field Structure

Abstract

Abstract We present a comprehensive analysis of a particular class of coronal mass ejection (CME) event called streamer-blowout CMEs (SBOs). The events are characterized by a gradual swelling of the overlying streamer, lasting hours to days, followed by a slow, wide CME, generally exhibiting a three-part structure, which leaves the streamer significantly depleted in its wake. We identify 909 SBO events in the LASCO/C2 observations between 1996 and 2015. The average blowout lasts for 40.5 hr, but the evacuation can take days for some events. The SBO CMEs are wider and more massive than the average CME. Their properties generally vary during and between solar cycles. Their minimum (maximum) monthly occurrence rate of one (six) events in cycle 23 has doubled in cycle 24—a probable manifestation of the weaker global fields in the current cycle. The locations of SBOs follow the tilt of the global dipole (but not from 2014 onward), do not correlate with sunspot numbers, and exhibit flux rope morphology at a much higher rate (61%) than regular CMEs (40%). We propose that these characteristics are consistent with SBOs arising from extended polarity inversion lines outside active regions (e.g., quiet Sun and polar crown filaments) through the release via reconnection of magnetic energy, likely accumulated via differential rotation.