51
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Strong coronal channelling and interplanetary evolution of a solar storm up to Earth and Mars

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          The severe geomagnetic effects of solar storms or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are to a large degree determined by their propagation direction with respect to Earth. There is a lack of understanding of the processes that determine their non-radial propagation. Here we present a synthesis of data from seven different space missions of a fast CME, which originated in an active region near the disk centre and, hence, a significant geomagnetic impact was forecasted. However, the CME is demonstrated to be channelled during eruption into a direction +37±10° (longitude) away from its source region, leading only to minimal geomagnetic effects. In situ observations near Earth and Mars confirm the channelled CME motion, and are consistent with an ellipse shape of the CME-driven shock provided by the new Ellipse Evolution model, presented here. The results enhance our understanding of CME propagation and shape, which can help to improve space weather forecasts.

          Abstract

          Coronal mass ejections from the Sun play an important role in space weather, yet a full understanding of their behaviour remains elusive. Towards this aim, Möstl et al. present a suite of observations showing that an ejection was channelled away from its source region, explaining incorrect forecasts.

          Related collections

          Most cited references2

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Mars' surface radiation environment measured with the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover.

          The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) on the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity rover began making detailed measurements of the cosmic ray and energetic particle radiation environment on the surface of Mars on 7 August 2012. We report and discuss measurements of the absorbed dose and dose equivalent from galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles on the martian surface for ~300 days of observations during the current solar maximum. These measurements provide insight into the radiation hazards associated with a human mission to the surface of Mars and provide an anchor point with which to model the subsurface radiation environment, with implications for microbial survival times of any possible extant or past life, as well as for the preservation of potential organic biosignatures of the ancient martian environment.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: found
            Is Open Access

            Observations of an extreme storm in interplanetary space caused by successive coronal mass ejections

            Space weather refers to dynamic conditions on the Sun and in the space environment of the Earth, which are often driven by solar eruptions and their subsequent interplanetary disturbances. It has been unclear how an extreme space weather storm forms and how severe it can be. Here we report and investigate an extreme event with multi-point remote-sensing and in-situ observations. The formation of the extreme storm showed striking novel features. We suggest that the in-transit interaction between two closely launched coronal mass ejections resulted in the extreme enhancement of the ejecta magnetic field observed near 1 AU at STEREO A. The fast transit to STEREO A (in only 18.6 hours), or the unusually weak deceleration of the event, was caused by the preconditioning of the upstream solar wind by an earlier solar eruption. These results provide a new view crucial to solar physics and space weather as to how an extreme space weather event can arise from a combination of solar eruptions.
              Bookmark

              Author and article information

              Journal
              Nat Commun
              Nat Commun
              Nature Communications
              Nature Pub. Group
              2041-1723
              26 May 2015
              2015
              : 6
              : 7135
              Affiliations
              [1 ]Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences , A-8042 Graz, Austria
              [2 ]IGAM-Kanzelhöhe Observatory, Institute of Physics, University of Graz , A-8010 Graz, Austria
              [3 ]Southwest Research Institute , 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, Texas 78238, USA
              [4 ]State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China
              [5 ]Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London , Holmbury St Mary, Dorking RH5 6NT, UK
              [6 ]Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory , Washington, District of Columbia 20375, USA
              [7 ]Space Science Center, Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire , Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
              [8 ]NASA Headquarters , Washington, District of Columbia 20546, USA
              [9 ]Hvar Observatory, Faculty of Geodesy, University of Zagreb , 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
              [10 ]Department of Mathematics, University of Dundee , Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland
              [11 ]Observatoire de Paris, LESIA , UMR 8109 (CNRS), F-92195 Meudon Principal, France
              [12 ]Solar-Terrestrial Center of Excellence - SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium , 1180 Brussels, Belgium
              [13 ]Catholic University of America , Washington, District of Columbia 20064, USA
              [14 ]Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
              Author notes
              Author information
              http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1572-8734
              Article
              ncomms8135
              10.1038/ncomms8135
              4455070
              26011032
              d07ccd64-a726-411e-8bc8-2796a8481ecd
              Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.

              This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

              History
              : 15 January 2015
              : 09 April 2015
              Categories
              Article

              Uncategorized
              Uncategorized

              Comments

              Comment on this article