Formation of Coronal Mass Ejection and Post-eruption Flow of Solar Wind on 2010 August 18 event

TL;DR

This study analyzes the formation and propagation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) and subsequent solar wind flows during the 2010 August 18 event, combining observations and modeling to understand post-eruption plasma dynamics.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the CME and post-eruption flows using multi-instrument observations and plasma modeling, clarifying their origins and propagation characteristics.

Findings

Post-eruption flow was associated with the CME rear, not ambient solar wind.

Discrete plasma flows linked to the ICME, with post-eruption outflow arriving during the declining phase.

Simulation of Fe-ion charge states supported the connection between observed flows and the CME event.

Abstract

The state of the space environment plays a significant role for forecasting of geomagnetic storms produced by disturbances of the solar wind (SW). Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) passing through the heliosphere often have a prolonged (up to several days) trail with declining speed, which affects propagation of the subsequent SW streams. We studied the CME and the post-eruption plasma flows behind the CME rear in the event on 2010 August 18 observed in quadrature by several space-based instruments. Observations of the eruption in the corona with EUV telescopes and coronagraphs revealed several discrete outflows followed by a continuous structureless post-eruption stream. The interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME), associated with this CME, was registered by PLAsma and SupraThermal Ion Composition (PLASTIC) instrument aboard the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO-A) between August 20, 16:14 UT and August 21, 13:14 UT, after which the SW disturbance was present over 3 days. Kinematic consideration with the use of the gravitational and Drag-Based models has shown that the discrete plasma flows can be associated with the ICME, whereas the post-eruption outflow was arrived in the declining part of the SW transient. We simulated the Fe-ion charge distributions of the ICME and post-CME parts of SW using the plasma temperature and density in the ejection region derived from the Differential Emission Measure analysis. The results demonstrate that in the studied event the post-ICME trailing region was associated with the post-eruption flow from the corona, rather then with the ambient SW entrained by the CME.