The speeds of coronal mass ejections in the solar wind at mid heliographic latitudes: Ulysses

Journal Article · Wed Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/94GL01068· OSTI ID:35583

Gosling, J T; Bame, S J; McComas, D J; Phillips, J L ^[1]; Goldstein, B E; Neugebauer, M ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)

Six CMEs have been detected in the Ulysses plasma observations poleward of S31{degrees}. The most striking aspect of these mid-latitude CMEs was their high speeds; the overall average speed of these CMEs was {approximately}740 km s{sup {minus}1}, which was comparable to that of the rest of the solar wind at these latitudes. This average CME speed is much higher than average CME speeds observed in the solar wind in the ecliptic or in the corona close to the Sun. The evidence indicates that the CMEs were not pushed up to high speeds in interplanetary space by interaction with trailing high-speed plasma. Rather, they simply seem to have received the same basic acceleration as the rest of the solar wind at these mid-latitudes. These results suggest that the basic acceleration process for many CMEs at all latitudes is essentially the same as for the normal solar wind. Frequently most of this acceleration must occur well beyond 6 solar radii from Sun`sj center. 18 refs., 4 figs.

• OSTI ID: 35583
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 21; ISSN GPRLAJ; ISSN 0094-8276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
EMISSION
LATITUDE EFFECT
MASS
SOLAR CORONA
VELOCITY