CMEs and magnetic clouds: Their combined study

MANDRINI, C.H.,

Punta Arenas

Congreso; IX Conferencia Latinoamericana de Geofísica Espacial; 2011

Asociación Latinoamericana ce Geofísica Esapcial

Magnetic clouds (MCs), and in a more general way interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), are believed to be the interplanetary counterparts of CMEs. The link between them has been shown considering the CME launch position on the Sun and the expected time delay between the solar event and the MC ?in situ? observation. The orientation of the coronal and interplanetary magnetic fields have been also compared. Going from such qualitative associations to more quantitative links is a challenge, since it requires to relate magnetic field measurements from very different origins: (i) photospheric magnetic maps, which are observed remotely, and (ii) ?in situ? measurements, which provide precise, directly measured, magnetic field data, though only in one dimension (along the spacecraft trajectory). The association between events in these different domains requires the development of adequate coronal and MC models. Then, global quantities like magnetic fluxes and magnetic helicity can be derived and compared. We describe the general trends found when applying the association criteria discussed above and we mention specially those cases which do not follow the general laws, since interesting physical results are usually associated to them.