Collaborative Research: SHINE: The Geometrical and Kinematic Evolution of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This collaborative team plans to investigate the evolution of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) at large distances from the Sun. They expect to identify the reasons that existing models do not accurately describe this ICME evolution. With this knowledge, the principal investigators (PI) will either be able to improve these models with corrected boundary conditions, or develop a new model describing the geometrical and kinematic evolution of ICMEs. The team then will evaluate their resulting model as a tool for space weather forecasting. This work involves the detailed analysis of coronagraph and interplanetary data, EUV images, and in situ observations from instruments on a variety of spacecraft, including SOHO, STEREO, ACE, Coriolis, WIND, and Ulysses. The collaborators have already devised a new data-driven model with the ability to extract parameters related to CME origins (such as relative geometry and Thomson scattered intensity) from those responsible for CME evolution (such as interactions with surrounding interplanetary medium, expansion of the CME, and MHD physics). The PIs thus expect to complete the first survey of the 3D properties of CMEs and allow the classification and comparison of the parameters responsible for CME appearance and evolution. The lead PI is an NRC Fellow while the secondary PI is a female scientist and recent SHINE postdoc. This project is important for the career development of these two promising young scientists at the beginning of their careers. Their joint project offers an opportunity to improve our general understanding of CME evolution in the interplanetary medium, as well as space weather prediction capabilities. The team's new ICME model will address SHINE science goals and improve the accuracy of space weather forecasts.