CMES AND THE SOLAR CYCLE VARIATION IN THEIR GEOEFFECTIVENESS

摘要

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are an important factor in coronal and interplanetary dynamics. They can inject large amounts of mass and magnetic fields into the heliosphere, causing major geomagnetic storms and interplanetary shocks, a key source of solar energetic particles. Recent studies using the excellent data sets from the SOHO, Yohkoh, TRACE, Wind, ACE and other spacecraft and ground-based instruments have improved our knowledge of the origins and early development of CMEs at the Sun and how they affect space weather. I review some key coronal properties of CMEs, their source regions, their manifestations in the solar wind, and their geoeffectiveness. Halo CMEs are of special interest for space weather because they suggest the launch of a geoeffective disturbance toward Earth. However, their correspondence to geomagnetic storms varies over the solar cycle. Although CMEs are involved with the largest storms at all phases of the cycle, recurrent features such as interaction regions and high speed wind streams are also geoeffective.