A Review of Coronagraphic Observations of Shocks Driven by Coronal Mass Ejections

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in detecting and analyzing CME-driven shocks using coronagraph observations, highlighting the ability to identify shock signatures and reconstruct their 3D structure from multiple viewpoints.

Contribution

It summarizes recent observational techniques and findings related to CME-driven shocks, emphasizing the detection of shock signatures and 3D reconstruction methods.

Findings

CME-driven shocks can be detected via white light coronagraphs from a few to 20 Rsun.

Shock properties like density compression and direction can be extracted from observations.

Stereoscopic observations enable 3D reconstruction of shock envelopes, revealing anisotropic expansion.

Abstract

The existence of shocks driven by Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) has always been assumed based on the superalfvenic speeds for some of these events and on indirect evidence such as radio bursts and distant streamer deflections. However, the direct signature of the plasma enhancement at the shock front has escaped detection until recently. Since 2003, work on LASCO observations has shown that CME-driven shocks can be detected by white light coronagraph observations from a few solar radii to at least 20 Rsun. Shock properties, such as the density compression ratio and their direction can be extracted from the data. We review this work here and demonstrate how to recognize the various shock morphologies in the images.We also discuss how the two-viewpoint coronagraph observations from the STEREO mission allow the reconstruction of the 3D envelope of the shock revealing some interesting properties of the shocks (e.g., anisotropic expansion).