We have made a comprehensive statistical study on the coronal mass ejections(CMEs) associated with helmet streamers. A total number of 3810 CMEs observed by SOHO/LASCO coronagraph from 1996 to 2000 have been visually inspected. By comparing their LASCO images and running difference images, we picked out streamer-associated CMEs, which are classified into two sub-groups: Class-A events whose morphological shape seen in the LASCO running difference image is quite similar to that of the pre-existing streamer, and Class-B events whose ejections occurred in a part of the streamer. The former type of CME may be caused by the destabilization of the helmet streamer and the latter type of CME may be related to the eruption of a filament underlying the helmet streamer or narrow CMEs such as streamer puffs. We have examined the distributions of CME speed and acceleration for both classes as well as the correlation between their speed and acceleration. The major results from these investigations are as follows. First, about a quarter of all CMEs are streamer-associated CMEs. Second, their mean speed is 413 km s-1 for Class-A events and 371 km s-1 for Class-B events. And the fraction of the streamer-associated CMEs decreases with speed. Third, the speed-acceleration diagrams show that there are no correlations between two quantities for both classes and the accelerations are nearly symmetric with respect to zero acceleration line. Fourth, their mean angular width are about 60°, which is similar to that of normal CMEs. Fifth, the fraction of streamer-associated CMEs during the solar minimum is a little larger than that during the solar maximum. Our results show that the kinematic characteristics of streamer-associated CMEs, especially Class-A events, are quite similar to those of quiescent filament-associated CMEs.

X-ray plasma ejections often occurred around the impulsive phases of solar flares and have been well observed by the SXT aboard Yohkoh. Though the X-ray plasma ejections show various morphological shapes, there has been no attempt at classifying the morphological groups for a large sample of the X-ray plasma ejections. In this study, we have classified 137 X-ray plasma ejections according to their shape for the first time. Our classification criteria are as follows: (1) a loop type shows ejecting plasma with the shape of loops, (2) a spray type has a continuous stream of plasma without showing any typical shape, (3) a jet type shows collimated motions of plasma, (4) a confined ejection shows limited motions of plasma near a flaring site. As a result, we classified the flare-associated X-ray plasma ejections into five groups as follows: loop-type (60 events), spray-type (40 events), jet-type (11 events), confined ejection (18 events), and others (8 events). As an illustration, we presented time sequence images of several typical events to discuss their morphological characteristics, speed, CME association, and magnetic field configuration. We found that the jet-type events tend to have higher speeds and better association with CMEs than those of the loop-type events. It is also found that the CME association (11/11) of the jet-type events is much higher than that (5/18) of the confined ejections. These facts imply that the physical characteristics of the X-ray plasma ejections are closely associated with magnetic field configurations near the reconnection regions.

We have developed a two fluid solar wind model from the Sun to 1 AU. Its basic equations are mass, momentum and energy conservations. In these equations, we include a wave mechanism of heating the corona and accelerating the wind. The two fluid model takes into account the power spectrum of Alfvenic wave fluctuation. Model computations have been made to fit observational constraints such as electron(Te) and proton(Tp) temperatures and solar wind speed(V) at 1 AU. As a result, we obtained physical quantities of solar wind as follows: Te is 7.4 X 10.5 K and density(n) is 1.7 X 107 cm-3 in the corona. At 1 AU Te is 2.1 X 105 K and n is 0.3 cm-3, and V is 511 km s-1. Our model well explains the heating of protons in the corona and the acceleration of the solar wind.

It has been a big mystery what drives filament eruptions and flares. We have studied in detail an X1.8 flare and its associated filament eruption that occurred in NOAA Active Region 9236 on November 24,2000. For this work we have analyzed high temporal (about 1 minute) and spatial (about 1 arcsec) resolution images taken by Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, Hα centerline and blue wing (-0.6Å) images from Big Bear Solar Observatory, and 1600 Å UV images by the Transition Region and Corona Explorer (TRACE). We have found that there were several transient brightenings seen in Hα and, more noticeably in TRACE 1600 Å images around the preflare phase. A closer look at the UV brightenings in 1600 Å images reveals that they took place near one end of the erupting filament, and are a kind of jets supplying mass into the transient loops seen in 1600 Å. These brightenings were also associated with canceling magnetic features (CMFs) as seen in the MDI magnetograms. The flux variations of these CMFs suggest that the flux cancellation may have been driven by the emergence of the new flux. For this event, we have estimated the ejection speeds of the filament ranging from 10 to 160 km s-1 for the first twenty minutes. It is noted that the initiation of the filament eruption (as defined by the rise speed less than 20 km s-1) coincided with the preflare activity characterized by UV brightenings and CMFs. The speed of the associated LASCO CME can be well extrapolated from the observed filament speed and its direction is consistent with those of the disturbed UV loops associated with the preflare activity. Supposing the Hα/UV transient brightenings and the canceling magnetic features are due to magnetic reconnect ion in the low atmosphere, our results may be strong observational evidence supporting that the initiation of the filament eruption and the preflare phase of the associated flare may be physically related to low-atmosphere magnetic reconnection.