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Register a new userA Challenging Solar Eruptive Event of 18 November 2003 and the Causes of the 20 November Geomagnetic Superstorm. II. CMEs, Shock Waves, and Drifting Radio Bursts
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V.V. Grechnev
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We continue our study (Grechnev et al. (2013), doi:10.1007/s11207-013-0316-6; Paper I) on the 18 November 2003 geoffective event. To understand possible impact on geospace of coronal transients observed on that day, we investigated their properties from solar near-surface manifestations in extreme ultraviolet, LASCO white-light images, and dynamic radio spectra. We reconcile near-surface activity with the expansion of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and determine their orientation relative to the earthward direction. The kinematic measurements, dynamic radio spectra, and microwave and X-ray light curves all contribute to the overall picture of the complex event and confirm an additional eruption at 08:07 - 08:20 UT close to the solar disk center presumed in Paper I. Unusual characteristics of the ejection appear to match those expected for a source of the 20 November superstorm but make its detection in LASCO images hopeless. On the other hand, none of the CMEs observed by LASCO seem to be a promising candidate for a source of the superstorm being able to produce, at most, a glancing blow on the Earths magnetosphere. Our analysis confirms free propagation of shock waves revealed in the event and reconciles their kinematics with EUV waves and dynamic radio spectra up to decameters.
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This is the first of four companion papers, which analyze a complex eruptive event of 18 November 2003 in AR 10501 and the causes of the largest Solar Cycle 23 geomagnetic storm on 20 November 2003. Analysis of a complete data set, not considered before, reveals a chain of eruptions to which hard X-ray and microwave bursts responded. A filament in AR 10501 was not a passive part of a larger flux rope, as usually considered. The filament erupted and gave origin to a CME. The chain of events was as follows: i) an eruption at 07:29 accompanied by a not reported M1.2 class flare associated with the onset of a first southeastern CME1, which is not responsible for the superstorm; ii) a confined eruption at 07:41 (M3.2 flare) that destabilized the filament; iii) the filament acceleration (07:56); iv) the bifurcation of the eruptive filament that transformed into a large cloud; v) an M3.9 flare in AR 10501 associated to this transformation. The transformation of the filament could be due to its interaction with the magnetic field in the neighborhood of a null point, located at a height of about 100 Mm above the complex formed by ARs 10501, 10503, and their environment. The CORONAS-F/SPIRIT telescope observed the cloud in 304 A as a large Y-shaped darkening, which moved from the bifurcation region to the limb. The masses and kinematics of the cloud and the filament were similar. Remnants of the filament were not observed in the second southwestern CME2, previously regarded as a source of the 20 November superstorm. These facts do not support a simple scenario, in which the interplanetary magnetic cloud is considered as a flux rope formed from a structure initially associated with the pre-eruption filament in AR 10501. Observations suggest a possible additional eruption above the bifurcation region close to solar disk center between 08:07 and 08:17 that could be the source of the superstorm.
The geomagnetic superstorm of 20 November 2003 with Dst = -422 nT, one of the most intense in history, is not well understood. The superstorm was caused by a moderate solar eruptive event on 18 November, comprehensively studied in our preceding Papers I-III. The analysis has shown a number of unusual and extremely complex features, which presumably led to the formation of an isolated right-handed magnetic-field configuration. Here we analyze the interplanetary disturbance responsible for the 20 November superstorm, compare some of its properties with the extreme 28-29 October event, and reveal a compact size of the magnetic cloud (MC) and its disconnection from the Sun. Most likely, the MC had a spheromak configuration and expanded in a narrow angle of < 14 degree. A very strong magnetic field in the MC up to 56 nT was due to the unusually weak expansion of the disconnected spheromak in an enhanced-density environment constituted by the tails of the preceding ICMEs. Additional circumstances favoring the superstorm were (i) the exact impact of the spheromak on the Earths magnetosphere and (ii) the almost exact southward orientation of the magnetic field, corresponding to the original orientation in its probable source region near the solar disk center.
Our analysis in Papers I and II (Grechnev et al., 2014, Solar Phys. 289, 289 and 1279) of the 18 November 2003 solar event responsible for the 20 November geomagnetic superstorm has revealed a complex chain of eruptions. In particular, the eruptive filament encountered a topological discontinuity located near the solar disk center at a height of about 100 Mm, bifurcated, and transformed into a large cloud, which did not leave the Sun. Concurrently, an additional CME presumably erupted close to the bifurcation region. The conjectures about the responsibility of this compact CME for the superstorm and its disconnection from the Sun are confirmed in Paper IV (Grechnev et al., Solar Phys., submitted), which concludes about its probable spheromak-like structure. The present paper confirms the presence of a magnetic null point near the bifurcation region and addresses the origin of the magnetic helicity of the interplanetary magnetic clouds and their connection to the Sun. We find that the orientation of a magnetic dipole constituted by dimmed regions with the opposite magnetic polarities away from the parent active region corresponded to the direction of the axial field in the magnetic cloud, while the pre-eruptive filament mismatched it. To combine all of the listed findings, we come to an intrinsically three-dimensional scheme, in which a spheromak-like eruption originates via the interaction of the initially unconnected magnetic fluxes of the eruptive filament and pre-existing ones in the corona. Through a chain of magnetic reconnections their positive mutual helicity was transformed into the self-helicity of the spheromak-like magnetic cloud.
We show examples of excitation of coronal waves by flare-related abrupt eruptions of magnetic rope structures. The waves presumably rapidly steepened into shocks and freely propagated afterwards like decelerating blast waves that showed up as Moreton waves and EUV waves. We propose a simple quantitative description for such shock waves to reconcile their observed propagation with drift rates of metric type II bursts and kinematics of leading edges of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Taking account of different plasma density falloffs for propagation of a wave up and along the solar surface, we demonstrate a close correspondence between drift rates of type II bursts and speeds of EUV waves, Moreton waves, and CMEs observed in a few known events.
The SOL2001-12-26 moderate solar eruptive event (GOES importance M7.1, microwaves up to 4000 sfu at 9.4 GHz, CME speed 1446 km/s) produced strong fluxes of solar energetic particles and ground-level enhancement of cosmic-ray intensity (GLE63). To find a possible reason for the atypically high proton outcome of this event, we study multi-wavelength images and dynamic radio spectra and quantitatively reconcile the findings with each other. An additional eruption probably occurred in the same active region about half an hour before the main eruption. The latter produced two blast-wave-like shocks during the impulsive phase. The two shock waves eventually merged around the radial direction into a single shock traced up to $25R_odot$ as a halo ahead of the expanding CME body, in agreement with an interplanetary Type II event recorded by the Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (WAVES) experiment on the Wind spacecraft. The shape and kinematics of the halo indicate an intermediate regime of the shock between the blast wave and bow shock at these distances. The results show that i) the shock wave appeared during the flare rise and could accelerate particles earlier than usually assumed; ii) the particle event could be amplified by the preceding eruption, which stretched closed structures above the developing CME, facilitated its lift-off and escape of flare-accelerated particles, enabled a higher CME speed and stronger shock ahead; iii) escape of flare-accelerated particles could be additionally facilitated by reconnection of the flux rope, where they were trapped, with a large coronal hole; iv) the first eruption supplied a rich seed population accelerated by a trailing shock wave.
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