We investigate two abnormal CME-Storm pairs that occurred on 2014 September 10 - 12 and 2015 March 15 - 17, respectively. The first one was a moderate geomagnetic storm (Dstmin  -75 nT) driven by the X1.6 high speed flare-associated CME (1267 km s−1) in AR 12158 (N14E02) near solar disk center. The other was a very intense geomagnetic storm (Dstmin  -223 nT) caused by a CME with moderate speed (719 km s−1) and associated with a filament eruption accompanied by a weak flare (C9.1) in AR 12297 (S17W38). Both CMEs have large direction parameters facing the Earth and southward magnetic field orientation in their solar source region. In this study, we inspect the structure of Interplanetary Flux Ropes (IFRs) at the Earth estimated by using the torus fitting technique assuming self-similar expansion. As results, we find that the moderate storm on 2014 September 12 was caused by small-scale southward magnetic fields in the sheath region ahead of the IFR. The Earth traversed the portion of the IFR where only the northward fields are observed. Meanwhile, in case of the 2015 March 17 storm, our IFR analysis revealed that the Earth passed the very portion where only the southward magnetic fields are observed throughout the passage. The resultant southward magnetic field with long- duration is the main cause of the intense storm. We suggest that 3D magnetic field geometry of an IFR at the IFR-Earth encounter is important and the strength of a geomagnetic storm is strongly affected by the relative location of the Earth with respect to the IFR structure.

A method of estimating the lower bound of coronal magnetic field strength in the neighborhood of an ejecting plasmoid is presented. Based on the assumption that the plasma ejecta is within a magnetic island, an analytical expression for the force acting on the ejecta is derived. The method is applied to a limb coronal mass ejection event, and a lower bound of the magnetic field strength just below the CME core is estimated. The method is expected to provide useful information on the strength of reconnecting magnetic field if applied to X-ray plasma ejecta.

The properties of SOHO/LASCO CMEs are subjected to projection effects. Their dependence on the source position is important to be studied. Our main aim is to study the dependence of CME properties on helio-longitude and latitude using the CMEs associated with type IIs observed by Wind/WAVES spacecraft (Deca-hecta metric type IIs - DH type IIs). These CMEs were identified as a separate population of geo-effective CMEs. We considered the CMEs associated with the Wind/WAVE type IIs observed during the period January 1997 - December 2005. The source locations of these CMEs were identified using their associated GOES X-ray flares and listed online. Using their locations and the cataloged properties of CMEs, we carried out a study on the dependence of CME properties on source location. We studied the above for three groups of CMEs: (i) all CMEs, (ii) halo and non-halo CMEs, and (iii) limb and non-limb CMEs. Major results from this study can be summarized as follows. (i) There is a clear dependence of speed on both the longitude and latitude; while there is an increasing trend with respect to longitude, it is opposite in the case of latitude. Our investigations show that the longitudinal dependence is caused by the projection effect and the latitudinal effect by the solar cycle effect. (ii) In the case of width, the disc centered events are observed with more width than those occurred at higher longitudes, and this result seems to be the same for latitude. (iii) The dependency of speed is confirmed on the angular distance between the sun-center and source location determined using both the longitude and latitude. (iv) There is no dependency found in the case of acceleration. (v) Among all the three groups of CMEs, the speeds of halo CMEs show more dependency on longitude. The speed of non-halo and non-limb CMEs show more dependency on latitude. The above results may be taken into account in correcting the projection effects of geo-effective CMEs.

Recently, we suggested a CME earthward direction parameter as an important geoeffective parameter that has been demonstrated by front-side halo CME data. In this study, we present the geometrical implication of this parameter by comparing with the parameters from a CME cone model. Major results from this study can be summarized as follows. First, we derive an analytic relationship between the cone model parameters (the half angular width of a cone and the angle between the cone axis and the plane of sky) and the earthward direction parameter. Second, we demonstrate a close relationship between the earthward direction parameter and the cone axis angle using 32 front-side full halo CMEs. Third, we found that there is noticeable inconsistency between the cone axis angles estimated from the cone model fitting to the CMEs and from their associated flare positions, implying that the flare position should not be considered as a good earthward direction parameter. Finally we present several advantages of our earthward direction parameter in terms of the forecast of a geomagnetic storm based on CME parameters.

A necessary condition for the formation of a filament is magnetic helicity. In the present paper we seek the origin of magnetic helicity of intermediate filaments. We observed the formation of a sinistral filament at the boundary of a decaying active region using full-disk Hα images obtained from Big Bear Solar Observatory. We have measured the rate of helicity injection during the formation of the filament using full-disk 96 minute-cadence magnetograms taken by SOHO MDI. As a result we found that 1) no significant helicity was injected around the region (polarity inversion line; PIL) of filament formation and 2) negative helicity was injected in the decaying active region. The negative sign of the injected helicity was opposite to that of the filament helicity. On the other hand, at earlier times when the associated active region emerged and grew, positive helicity was intensively injected. Our results suggest that the magnetic helicity of the intermediate filament may have originated from the helicity accumulated during the period of the growth of its associated active region.