A solar storm observed from the Sun to Venus using the STEREO, Venus Express, and MESSENGER spacecraft

Rouillard, A. P. and Davies, J. A. and Forsyth, R. J. and Savani, N. P. and Sheeley, N. R. and Thernisien, A. and Zhang, T. -L. and Howard, R. A. and Anderson, B. and Carr, C. M. and Tsang, S. and Lockwood, M. and Davis, C. J. and Harrison, R. A. and Bewsher, D. and Fraenz, M. and Crothers, S. R. and Eyles, C. J. and Brown, D. S. and Whittaker, I. and Hapgood, M. and Coates, A. J. and Jones, G. H. and Grande, M. and Frahm, R. A. and Winningham, J. D. (2009) A solar storm observed from the Sun to Venus using the STEREO, Venus Express, and MESSENGER spacecraft. Journal of Geophysical Research, 114 (A7): A07106. ISSN 0148-0227

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Abstract

The suite of SECCHI optical imaging instruments on the STEREO-A spacecraft is used to track a solar storm, consisting of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and other coronal loops, as it propagates from the Sun into the heliosphere during May 2007. The 3-D propagation path of the largest interplanetary CME (ICME) is determined from the observations made by the SECCHI Heliospheric Imager (HI) on STEREO-A (HI-1/2A). Two parts of the CME are tracked through the SECCHI images, a bright loop and a V-shaped feature located at the rear of the event. We show that these two structures could be the result of line-of-sight integration of the light scattered by electrons located on a single flux rope. In addition to being imaged by HI, the CME is observed simultaneously by the plasma and magnetic field experiments on the Venus Express and MESSENGER spacecraft. The imaged loop and V-shaped structure bound, as expected, the flux rope observed in situ. The SECCHI images reveal that the leading loop-like structure propagated faster than the V-shaped structure, and a decrease in in situ CME speed occurred during the passage of the flux rope. We interpret this as the result of the continuous radial expansion of the flux rope as it progressed outward through the interplanetary medium. An expansion speed in the radial direction of similar to 30 km s(-1) is obtained directly from the SECCHI-HI images and is in agreement with the difference in speed of the two structures observed in situ. This paper shows that the flux rope location can be determined from white light images, which could have important space weather applications.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Geophysical Research
Additional Information:
Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1901
Subjects:
?? planar magnetic-structurescoronal mass ejectionsfieldanglestreamsinstrumentcloudsfluxwind1 auearth and planetary sciences (miscellaneous)geophysicsatmospheric sciencespace and planetary science ??
ID Code:
64338
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
07 May 2013 09:29
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
08 Jan 2024 00:12