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In this paper I will briefly summarize the present status of our knowledge on the four different sorts of solar wind, their sources and their short- and long-term variations. First: the fast solar wind in high-speed streams that emerges from coronal hole regions. Second: the slow solar wind emerging from the non-active Sun near the global heliospheric current sheet above helmet streamers and underlying active regions. Third: the slow solar wind filling most of the heliosphere during high solar activity, emerging above active regions in a highly turbulent state, and fourth: the plasma expelled from the Sun during coronal mass ejections. The coronal sources of these different flows vary dramatically with the solar activity cycle.

CME disturbances at Earth arise from the sheath that arrives in front of the ICME and from the ICME itself. The geoeffective environment is qualitatively different in the sheath than within the ICME. Consequently two types of forecast procedures using solar observations of phenomena associated with the release of the CME as input parameters have been developed to treat the two types of environment. This chapter surveys efforts that have resulted in implementable (at least in principle) forecast algorithms for sheath and ICME disturbances and discusses uncertainties associated with both.

International audience; CMEs have been observed for over 30 years with a wide variety of instruments. It is now possible to derive detailed and quantitative information on CME morphology, velocity, acceleration and mass. Flares associated with CMEs are observed in X-rays, and several different radio signatures are also seen. Optical and UV spectra of CMEs both on the disk and at the limb provide velocities along the line of sight and diagnostics for temperature, density and composition. From the vast quantity of data we attempt to synthesize the current state of knowledge of the properties of CMEs, along with some specific observed characteristics that illuminate the physical processes occurring during CME eruption. These include the common three-part structures of CMEs, which is generally attributed to compressed material at the leading edge, a low-density magnetic bubble and dense prominence gas. Signatures of shock waves are seen, but the location of these shocks relative to the other structures and the occurrence rate at the heights where Solar Energetic Particles are produced remains controversial. The relationships among CMEs, Moreton waves, EIT waves, and EUV dimming are also cloudy. The close connection between CMEs and flares suggests that magnetic reconnection plays an important role in CME eruption and evolution. We discuss the evidence for reconnection in current sheets from white-light, X-ray, radio and UV observations. Finally, we summarize the requirements for future instrumentation that might answer the outstanding questions and the opportunities that new space-based and ground-based observatories will provide in the future.

We have compared characteristics of 38 halo coronal mass ejections observed on the Sun by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph onboard SOHO with their corresponding counterparts observed near Earth by the magnetic field and plasma instruments onboard the ACE, WIND and SOHO satellites, in the period from January 1997 to April 2001. We only have selected events that have some associated interplanetary ejecta structure at 1 AU and we have compared the lateral expansion speeds of these halo CMEs and the corresponding ejecta speeds near Earth. We found that there is a high correlation between these two speeds. The results are very similar to the study done by Lindsay et al. (1999) using observations made by Solwind and SMM coronagraphs, and Helios-1 and PVO plasma and interplanetary field data from the period of 1979 to 1988. Also, we reviewed the relation between the CME-related shock transit speed to Earth and the ejecta speeds near Earth. This kind of relation is very important to estimate ejecta speeds of events for which no interplanetary observations are available.

The near-rigid rotation of the corona above the differential rotation of the photosphere has important implications for the form of the global coronal magnetic field. The magnetic reconfiguring associated with the shear region where the rigidly-rotating coronal field lines interface with the differentially-rotating photospheric field lines could provide an important energy source for coronal heating. We present data on coronal rotation as a function of altitude provided by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. LASCO comprises of three coronagraphs (C1, C2, and C3) with nested fields-of-view spanning 1.1 R⊙ to 30 R⊙. An asymmetry in brightness, both of the Fe xiv emission line corona and of the broad-band electron scattered corona, has been observed to be stable over at least a one-year period spanning May 1996 to May 1997. This feature has presented a tracer for the coronal rotation and allowed period estimates to be made to beyond 15 R⊙, up to 5 times further than previously recorded for the white-light corona. The difficulty in determining the extent of differential motion in the outer corona is demonstrated and latitudinally averaged rates formed and determined as a function of distance from the Sun. The altitude extent of the low latitude closed coronal field region is inferred from the determined rotation periods which is important to the ability of the solar atmosphere to retain energetic particles. For the inner green line corona ( 2.5 R⊙) we determine a rotation period of (27.7±0.1) days.

The first X-class flare in four years occurred on 9 July 1996. This X2.6/1B flare reached its maximum at 09:11 UT and was located in active region 7978 (S10° W30°) which was an old-cycle sunspot polarity group. We report the SOHO LASCO/EIT/MDI and SOONSPOT observations before and after this event together with Yohkoh SXT images of the flare, radio observations of the type II shock, and GOES disk-integrated soft X-ray flux during an extended period that included energy build-up in this active region. The LASCO coronagraphs measured a significant coronal mass ejection (CME) on the solar west limb beginning on 8 July at about 09:53 UT. The GOES 8 soft X-ray flux (0.1–0.8 nm) had started to increase on the previous day from below the A-level background (10-8 W m-2). At the start time of the CME, it was at the mid-B level and continued to climb. This CME is similar to many events which have been seen by LASCO and which are being interpreted as disruption of existing streamers by emerging flux ropes. LASCO and EIT were not collecting data at the time of the X-flare due to a temporary software outage. A larger CME was in progress when the first LASCO images were taken after the flare. Since the first image of the 'big' CME was obtained after the flare's start time, we cannot clearly demonstrate the physical connection of the CME to the flare. However, the LASCO CME data are consistent with an association of the flare and the CME. No eruptive filaments were observed during this event. We used the flare evidence noted above to employ in real time a simplified Shock-Time-of-Arrival (STOA) algorithm to estimate the arrival of a weak shock at the WIND spacecraft. We compare this prediction with the plasma and IMF data from WIND and plasma data from the SOHO/CELIAS instrument and suggest that the flare - and possibly the interplanetary consequences of the 'big' CME - was the progenitor of the mild, high-latitude, geomagnetic storm (daily sum of Kp=16+, Ap=8) on 12 July 1996. We speculate that the shock was attenuated enroute to Earth as a result of interaction with the heliospheric current/plasma sheet.

The development of a coronal mass ejection on 9 July 1996 has been analyzed by comparing the observations of the LASCO/SOHO coronagraphs with those of the Nancay radioheliograph. The spatial and temporal evolution of the associated radioburst is complex and involves a long-duration continuum. The analysis of the time sequence of the radio continuum reveals the existence of distinct phases associated with distinct reconnection processes and magnetic restructuring of the corona. Electrons are accelerated in association with these reconnection processes. An excellent spatial association is found between the position and extension of the radio source and the CME seen by LASCO. Furthermore, it is shown that the topology and evolution of the source of the radio continuum involve successive interactions between two systems of loops. These successive interactions lead to magnetic reconnection, then to a large scale coronal restructuring. Thus electrons of coronal origin may have access to the interplanetary medium in a large range of heliographic latitudes as revealed by the Ulysses observations.

We present the first observations of the initiation of a coronal mass ejection (CME) seen on the disk of the Sun. Observations with the EIT experiment on SOHO show that the CME began in a small volume and was initially associated with slow motions of prominence material and a small brightening at one end of the prominence. Shortly afterward, the prominence was accelerated to about 100 km s-1 and was preceded by a bright loop-like structure, which surrounded an emission void, that traveled out into the corona at a velocity of 200–400 km s-1. These three components, the prominence, the dark void, and the bright loops are typical of CMEs when seen at distance in the corona and here are shown to be present at the earliest stages of the CME. The event was later observed to traverse the LASCO coronagraphs fields of view from 1.1 to 30 R. Of particular interest is the fact that this large-scale event, spanning as much as 70 deg in latitude, originated in a volume with dimensions of roughly 35″ (2.5 × 104 km). Further, a disturbance that propagated across the disk and a chain of activity near the limb may also be associated with this event as well as a considerable degree of activity near the west limb.

The newly developed C1 coronagraph as part of the Large-Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the SOHO spacecraft has been operating since January 29, 1996. We present observations obtained in the first three months of operation. The green-line emission corona can be made visible throughout the instrument's full field of view, i.e., from 1.1 R⊙ out to 3.2 R⊙ (measured from Sun center). Quantitative evaluations based on calibrations cannot yet be performed, but some basic signatures show up even now: (1) There are often bright and apparently closed loop systems centered at latitudes of 30° to 45° in both hemispheres. Their helmet-like extensions are bent towards the equatorial plane. Farther out, they merge into one large equatorial ‘streamer sheet’ clearly discernible out to 32 R⊙. (2) At mid latitudes a more diffuse pattern is usually visible, well separated from the high-latitude loops and with very pronounced variability. (3) All high-latitude structures remain stable on time scales of several days, and no signature of transient disruption of high-latitude streamers was observed in these early data. (4) Within the first 4 months of observation, only one single ‘fast’ feature was observed moving outward at a speed of 70 km s-1 close to the equator. Faster events may have escaped attention because of data gaps. (5) The centers of high-latitude loops are usually found at the positions of magnetic neutral lines in photospheric magnetograms. The large-scale streamer structure follows the magnetic pattern fairly precisely. Based on our observations we conclude that the shape and stability of the heliospheric current sheet at solar activity minimum are probably due to high-latitude streamers rather than to the near-equatorial activity belt.

In the field of solar-terrestrial relations a clear and unique terminology is needed in order to abolish and avoid unnecessary confusion between the scientists from several involved disciplines. For example, the widely used abbreviationCME (for coronal mass ejection) has turned out to be somewhat misleading. Early on it had been known that other than coronal material is often involved in such events. The discoverers observed transient events of mass ejections from the sun, which could be observed in the corona owing to the newly available coronagraphs. This article is meant to clarify the terminology, with emphasis on giving credit to the original discoverers and the terms they introduced. With this aim in mind I suggest some minor modifications of the terminology.

The Giotto space probe's ion mass spectrometer has obtained data on the composition and velocity distributions of cometary ions at distances of between 7.5 million and 1300 km from the comet Halley nucleus. Solar wind He(2+) was found throughout the coma, as close as 5000 km, with the He(+) produced by charge exchange being within about 200,000 km. A pile-up of heavy cometary ions was found at about 10,000 km from the nucleus. Inside the contact surface, which was found at about 4600 km, ion temperatures as low as about 340 K and outflow velocities of about 1 km/sec were found.

Pitch angle scattering of energetic particles (100 MeV) in the interplanetary medium are studied using Helios 1 and 2 magnetometer and plasma data during 1976 near the minimum of solar activity. An IMF configuration was used in the computer experiments which allowed the pitch angle diffusion coefficient, Dμμ and hence the parallel mean free path, λ∥ to be determined. The radial mean free path was found to vary as λr ∼ r-0.9 between 0.4 and 1 AU, but between 0.3 and 0.4 AU it decreases significantly. To reconcile our value of λr at 1 AU, lying between 0.01 and 0.02 AU, with the average prompt solar proton event profile, an increasing value of λr at lower radial distances would be required.

UNLIKE plasma instruments used on previous space missions to Mars, the TAUS instrument on Phobos 2 was designed so that the energy per charge and angular spectra of three species of ions could be measured separately. These species were H+ and He2+ characteristic of the solar wind, and 'heavy ions' collected in one integral channel covering the mass per charge (M/q) range 3 to infinite, which we anticipated to find predominantly in the near-martian regime. In all spacecraft orbits around Mars we found a sharp boundary, separating the shocked solar wind from the martian magnetosphere which was characterized by the absence of solar-wind-like plasma. As the plasma inside the magnetosphere, and particularly in the tail, was dominated by heavy ions with number densities orders of magnitude higher than found in the solar wind, we assumed it was mainly of martian origin. Typically, heavy ions of low tailward flow velocity were seen near the boundary of the magnetotail, whereas high-speed tailward plasma flows of such ions were detected deeper inside the tail, a region not investigated before. Near the centre of the martian magnetotail a plasma regime, comparable to the terrestrial as well as the venusian1 plasma sheet, was detected, characterized by highly supersonic tailward streams of heavy ions. The flux of planetary ions leaving Mars through its magnetotail is tentatively estimated to be of the order of a few times 1025 s-1. Such loss rates would be significant for the dissipation of the martian atmosphere on cosmological timescales.

We present the observation of three flare generated shock waves which were measured by Helios-2 at a radial distance from the Sun of 0.476 AU, 0.444 AU, and 0.297 AU. These results show that two of the shocks fulfill the classification scheme of ‘F-events’ stated in the past while the third shock profile is that of a ‘R-event’ being interpreted as a driven wave. Because of the close distance to the Sun a flare-association was possible. Only in one case there is some evidence for a piston in the downstream region of the shock. One of the shocks is characterized by a distinct hole in the frequency distribution of directional discontinuities in the downstream region.

We review and discuss a few interplanetary electron density scales which have been derived from the analysis of interplanetary solar radio bursts, and we compare them to a model derived from 1974–1980 Helios 1 and 2 in situ density observations made in the 0.3–1.0 AU range. The Helios densities were normalized to 1976 with the aid of IMP and ISEE data at 1 AU, and were then sorted into 0.1 AU bins and logarithmically averaged within each bin. The best fit to these 1976-normalized, bin averages is N(RAU) = 6.1R-2.10 cm-3. This model is in rather good agreement with the solar burst determination if the radiation is assumed to be on the second harmonic of the plasma frequency. This analysis also suggests that the radio emissions tend to be produced in regions denser than the average where the density gradient decreases faster with distance than the observed R-2.10.

Major interplanetary shock waves have often been successfully associated with major solar flares. The interplanetary response to weaker solar events, e. g., eruptive prominences (EP) and slow coronal transients, is far less pronounced. Recently, progress has been made by combining the newly-available data of white-light-coronagraph measurements from the earth-orbiting satellite P78/1 (these data show the development of coronal transients between 2.5 and 10 R ⊙), in-situ plasma measurements from the HELIOS solar probes positioned mostly above the Sun’s limb at solar distances between 60 and 200 R ⊙ (showing the reactions of the interplanetary plasma), ground based Hα-coronagraphs (showing in a few cases the evolution of EP’s from the Sun’s limb up to 1.5 R ⊙

Interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations may be used to study large-scale propagation properties of transient interplanetary disturbances in a three-dimensional manner, although current IPS observations have several limitations, e.g., poor time resolution and line-of-sight integration. Comparative studies with spacecraft solar wind and white-light coronal mass ejection (CME) observations are quite helpful in interpretation of IPS observations. An interplanetary disturbance apparently in association with a disappearing solar filament, which took place near the central meridian of the Sun on late 22 April, 1979, is discussed to examine previous deductions from IPS observations. Three-station IPS observations of the flow speed and spacecraft observations suggest that a quasi-spherical interplanetary disturbance was formed around the Sun-Earth line, whereas the center of the disturbance derived from the distribution of enhanced IPS across the sky (g-maps) is located to the east of the Sun-Earth line.

More than 1000 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) caused by different types of coronal transients have been analyzed up to now, based on the images from white-light coronagraphs on board the OSO 7, Skylab, P78-1, and SMM spacecraft. In many cases, the CME images give the impression of loop-like, more planar structures, similar to those of prominence strutures often seen in Hα pictures. There is increasing evidence, though, for a three-dimensional bubble- or cloud-like structure of CMEs.