Identification of Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections at Ulysses Using Multiple Solar Wind Signatures

Abstract

Previous studies have discussed the identification of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) near the Earth based on various solar wind signatures. In particular, methods have been developed of identifying regions of anomalously low solar wind proton temperatures (T p) and plasma compositional anomalies relative to the composition of the ambient solar wind that are frequently indicative of ICMEs. In this study, similar methods are applied to observations from the Ulysses spacecraft that was launched in 1990 and placed in a heliocentric orbit over the poles of the Sun. Some 279 probable ICMEs are identified during the spacecraft mission, which ended in 2009. The identifications complement those found independently in other studies of the Ulysses data, but a number of additional events are identified. The properties of the ICMEs detected at Ulysses and those observed near the Earth and in the inner heliosphere are compared. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.