TY - JOUR

T1 - Analysis of a coronal mass ejection and corotating interaction region as they travel from the Sun passing Venus, Earth, Mars, and Saturn

AU - Prise, A. J.

AU - Harra, L. K.

AU - Matthews, S. A.

AU - Arridge, C. S.

AU - Achilleos, N.

N1 - ©2015. American Geophysical Union.

PY - 2015/3

Y1 - 2015/3

N2 - During June 2010 a good alignment in the solar system between Venus, STEREO-B, Mars, and Saturn provided an excellent opportunity to study the propagation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and closely occurring corotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun to Saturn. The CME erupted from the Sun at 01:30 UT on 20 June 2010,with v approximate to 600 km s(-1), as observed by STEREO-B, Solar Dynamics Observatory, and SOHO/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph. It arrived at Venus over 2 days later, some 3.5 days after a CIR is also detected here. The CIR was also observed at STEREO-B and Mars, prior to the arrival of the CME. The CME is not directed earthward, but the CIR is detected here less than 2 days after its arrival at Mars. Around a month later, a strong compression of the Saturn magnetosphere is observed by Cassini, consistent with the scenario that the CME and CIR have merged into a single solar transient. The arrival times of both the CME and the CIR at different locations were predicted using the ENLIL solar wind model. The arrival time of the CME at Venus, STEREO-B, and Mars is predicted to within 20 h of its actual detection, but the predictions for the CIR showed greater differences from observations, all over 1.5 days early. More accurate predictions for the CIR were found by extrapolating the travel time between different locations using the arrival times and speeds detected by STEREO-B and ACE. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding the propagation of solar transients.

AB - During June 2010 a good alignment in the solar system between Venus, STEREO-B, Mars, and Saturn provided an excellent opportunity to study the propagation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and closely occurring corotating interaction region (CIR) from the Sun to Saturn. The CME erupted from the Sun at 01:30 UT on 20 June 2010,with v approximate to 600 km s(-1), as observed by STEREO-B, Solar Dynamics Observatory, and SOHO/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph. It arrived at Venus over 2 days later, some 3.5 days after a CIR is also detected here. The CIR was also observed at STEREO-B and Mars, prior to the arrival of the CME. The CME is not directed earthward, but the CIR is detected here less than 2 days after its arrival at Mars. Around a month later, a strong compression of the Saturn magnetosphere is observed by Cassini, consistent with the scenario that the CME and CIR have merged into a single solar transient. The arrival times of both the CME and the CIR at different locations were predicted using the ENLIL solar wind model. The arrival time of the CME at Venus, STEREO-B, and Mars is predicted to within 20 h of its actual detection, but the predictions for the CIR showed greater differences from observations, all over 1.5 days early. More accurate predictions for the CIR were found by extrapolating the travel time between different locations using the arrival times and speeds detected by STEREO-B and ACE. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding the propagation of solar transients.

KW - corotating interaction regions

KW - coronal mass ejections

KW - solar wind modeling

KW - solar wind planetary interactions

KW - LARGE HELIOCENTRIC DISTANCES

KW - MULTIPLE MAGNETIC CLOUDS

KW - SOLAR-WIND

KW - INNER HELIOSPHERE

KW - PERIODIC PERTURBATIONS

KW - WHITE-LIGHT

KW - 1 AU

KW - 3-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE

KW - STREAM INTERACTIONS

KW - EXPRESS MISSION

U2 - 10.1002/2014JA020256

DO - 10.1002/2014JA020256

M3 - Journal article

VL - 120

SP - 1566

EP - 1588

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics

SN - 2169-9380

IS - 3

ER -