Signatures of interplanetary transients behind shocks and their associated near-surface solar activity

Abstract. Interplanetary transients with particular signatures different from the normal solar wind have been observed behind interplanetary shocks and also without shocks. In this paper we have selected four well-known transient interplanetary signatures, namely: magnetic clouds, helium enhancements and bidirectional electron and ion fluxes, found in the solar wind behind shocks, and undertaken a correlative study between them and the corresponding solar observations. We found that although commonly different signatures appear in a single interplanetary transient event, they are not necessarily simultaneous, that is, they may belong to different plasma regions within the ejecta, which suggests that they may be generated by complex processes involving the ejection of plasma from different solar regions. We also found that more than 90% of these signatures correspond to cases when an Hα flare and/or the eruption of a filament occurred near solar central meridian between 1 and 4 days before the observation of the disturbance at 1 AU, the highest association being with flares taking place between 2 and 3 days before. The majority of the Hα flares were also accompanied by soft X-ray events. We also studied the longitudinal distribution of the associated solar events and found that between 80% and 90% of the interplanetary ejecta were associated with solar events within a longitudinal band of ±30° from the solar central meridian. An east-west asymmetry in the associated solar events seems to exist for some of the signatures. We also look for coronal holes adjacent to the site of the explosive event and find that they were present almost in every case.

Key words. Interplanetary physics · Interplanetary shocks · Solar wind plasma · Solar physics · Flares and mass ejections