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Do Solar Coronal Holes Affect the Properties of Solar Energetic Particle Events?

  • Solar Origins of Space Weather and Space Climate
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Abstract

The intensities and timescales of gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events at 1 AU may depend not only on the characteristics of shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but also on large-scale coronal and interplanetary structures. It has long been suspected that the presence of coronal holes (CHs) near the CMEs or near the 1-AU magnetic footpoints may be an important factor in SEP events. We used a group of 41 E≈ 20 MeV SEP events with origins near the solar central meridian to search for such effects. First we investigated whether the presence of a CH directly between the sources of the CME and of the magnetic connection at 1 AU is an important factor. Then we searched for variations of the SEP events among different solar wind (SW) stream types: slow, fast, and transient. Finally, we considered the separations between CME sources and CH footpoint connections from 1 AU determined from four-day forecast maps based on Mount Wilson Observatory and the National Solar Observatory synoptic magnetic-field maps and the Wang–Sheeley–Arge model of SW propagation. The observed in-situ magnetic-field polarities and SW speeds at SEP event onsets tested the forecast accuracies employed to select the best SEP/CH connection events for that analysis. Within our limited sample and the three analytical treatments, we found no statistical evidence for an effect of CHs on SEP event peak intensities, onset times, or rise times. The only exception is a possible enhancement of SEP peak intensities in magnetic clouds.

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Acknowledgements

SWK was funded by AFOSR Task 2301RDZ4. NG and SA were supported by NASA’s LWS TR&T program. CME data were taken from the CDAW LASCO catalog. This CME catalog is generated and maintained at the CDAW Data Center by NASA and The Catholic University of America in cooperation with the Naval Research Laboratory. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. EIT images of Figure 1 were obtained from the EIT instrument webpage. We thank Ian Richardson for providing the SW stream listings and Don Reames for the use of the EPACT proton data. We used Wind data provided by J.H. King, N. Papatashvilli, and R. Lepping at the NASA/GSFC CDAW website.

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  1. Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate, 3550 Aberdeen Ave., Kirtland AFB, NM, 87117, USA

    S. W. Kahler & C. N. Arge

  2. The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, 20064, USA

    S. Akiyama

  3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    N. Gopalswamy

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  1. S. W. Kahler
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  2. C. N. Arge
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  3. S. Akiyama
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  4. N. Gopalswamy
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Kahler, S.W., Arge, C.N., Akiyama, S. et al. Do Solar Coronal Holes Affect the Properties of Solar Energetic Particle Events?. Sol Phys 289, 657–673 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-013-0427-0

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