The basic characteristics of EUV post-eruptive arcades and their role as tracers of coronal mass ejection source regions^*

Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie 37171 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany e-mail: [bothmer;cremades]@linmpi.mpg.de

Corresponding author: D. Tripathi, tripathi@linmpi.mpg.de

Received: 5 December 2003
Accepted: 5 April 2004

Abstract

The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft provides unique observations of dynamic processes in the low corona. The EIT 195 Å data taken from 1997 to the end of 2002 were investigated to study the basic physical properties of post-eruptive arcades (PEAs) and their relationship with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as detected by SOHO/LASCO (Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph). Over the investigated time period, 236 PEA events have been identified in total. For each PEA, its EUV lifetime as derived from the emission time at 195 Å, its heliographic position and length, and its corresponding photospheric source region inferred from SOHO/MDI (Michelson Doppler Imager) data has been studied, as well as the variation of these parameters over the investigated phase of solar cycle 23. An almost one to one correspondence is found between EUV PEAs and white-light CMEs. Based on this finding, PEAs can be considered as reliable tracers of CME events even without simultaneous coronagraph observations. A detailed comparison of the white-light, soft X-ray and EUV observation for some of the events shows, that PEAs form in the aftermath of CMEs likely in the course of the magnetic restructurings taking place at the coronal source sites. The average EUV emission life-time for the selected events ranged from 2 to 20 h, with an average of 7 h. The heliographic length of the PEAs was in the range of 2 to 40 degrees, with an average of 15 degrees. The length increased by a factor of 3 to 4 in the latitude range of 20 to 40 degrees in the northern and southern hemispheres, with longer PEAs being observed preferentially at higher latitudes. The PEAs were located mainly in the activity belts in both hemispheres, with the southern hemispheric ones being shifted by about 15 degree in latitude further away from the solar equator during 1997-2002. The decrease in latitude of the PEA positions was 10 to 15 degrees in the northern and southern hemispheres over this period. The axes of the PEAs were overlying magnetic polarity inversion lines when traced back to the MDI synoptic charts of the photospheric field. The magnetic polarities on both sides of the inversion lines agreed with the dominant magnetic pattern expected in cycle 23, i.e. being preferentially positive to the West of the PEA axes in the North and negative in the South. One third (31%) of the PEA events showed reversed polarities. The origin of PEAs is found not just in single bipolar regions (BPRs), but also in between pairs of neighboring BPRs.