WP4 Linked Catalogue

This is the version 1.0 of the linked catalogue (LINKCAT) of solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during the STEREO era, established in the European Union HELCATS project. It connects CME observations on the Sun and in the interplanetary space, using heliospheric imager observations to seamlessly connect the different datasets. We have essentially traced back the in situ detection of a CME to its solar origin.

AUTHORS: Christian Moestl, Peter Boakes, University of Graz, Austria and SRI, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria. Alexey Isavnin, Emilia Kilpua, University of Helsinki, Finland. Niclas Mrotzek, Volker Bothmer, University of Goettingen, Germany.

Description Value
Time window for selection of linked events from predicted arrivals to in situ observations:+/- 24 hours.
Time rangeMay 2007 - December 2013
Number of events in LINKCAT143
Remote observatoriesSTEREO-A/B, SDO, SOHO, Proba2
In situ observatoriesWind, STEREO-A, STEREO-B, VEX, MESSENGER

This is version: 01 of the catalogue, released 2016-07-11. (DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.4588330.v2 )

The catalogue can be downloaded in several formats (Fixed format ASCII, JSON, VoTable XML).

Arrival Date
HICAT_ID SSE_LAUNCH
[UTC]
TARGET_NAME TARGET_ARRIVAL
[UTC]
ICMECAT_ID SC_INSITU ICME_START_TIME
[UTC]
ARRIVAL_DIFFERENCE
[hrs]
SC_HELIODISTANCE
[AU]
SC_LONG_HEEQ
[deg]
SC_LAT_HEEQ
[deg]
SOURCE_TYPE SOURCE_LONG_HEEQ
[deg]
SOURCE_LAT_HEEQ
[deg]
FLARE_CLASS FLARE_START_TIME
[UTC]
FLARE_END_TIME
[UTC]
FLARE_PEAK_TIME
[UTC]
CME_SSE_LONG_HEEQ
[deg]
CME_SSE_LAT_HEEQ
[deg]
CME_SSE_SPEED
[kms-1]
CME_TARGET_SPEED
[kms-1]
MO_START_TIME
[UTC]
MO_END_TIME
[UTC]
MO_BMEAN
[nT]
MO_BSTD
[nT]
MO_BZMEAN
[nT]
MO_BZMIN
[nT]
MO_MVA_AXIS_LONG
[deg]
MO_MVA_AXIS_LAT
[deg]
MO_MVA_RATIO GSR_START_TIME
[UTC]
GSR_START_TIME
[UTC]
GSR_AXIS_LONG
[deg]
GSR_AXIS_LAT
[deg]
GSR_IMPACT
[AU]
VHTX
[kms-1]
VHTY
[kms-1]
VHTZ
[kms-1]

catalogue contains the following columns (by default only a subset are shown above but all will be included when you copy or download the data. Use the Show/hide columns option to display the required selection.

i
ColumnDescriptionUnits
HICAT_IDFrom HIGeoCAT, the unique identifier for the observed CME. string
SSE_LAUNCHFrom HIGeoCAT, back-projected launch time of the CME on the Sun. UTC
TARGET_NAMEFrom ARRCAT, the name of the in situ target. string
TARGET_ARRIVALFrom ARRCAT, the predicted CME arrival time at the target location, corrected for SSE shape. UTC
ICMECAT_IDFrom ICMECAT, the unique identifier for the observed ICME. string
SC_INSITUFrom ICMECAT, the name of the in situ observatory. string
ICME_START_TIMEFrom ICMECAT, the shock arrival or density enhancement time, can be similar to MO_START_TIME. UTC
ARRIVAL_DIFFERENCETARGET_ARRIVAL minus ICME_START_TIME (i.e. calculated - observed). hours
SC_HELIODISTANCEFrom ICMECAT, average heliocentric distance of the spacecraft during the magnetic obstacle (MO). AU
SC_LONG_HEEQFrom ICMECAT, average heliospheric longitude of the spacecraft during the MO. degree (HEEQ)
SC_LAT_HEEQFrom ICMECAT, average heliospheric latitude of the spacecraft during the MO. degree (HEEQ)
SOURCE_TYPEflare (F) or filament eruption (FE). string
SOURCE_LONG_HEEQsource region Stonyhurst longitude. degree (HEEQ)
SOURCE_LAT_HEEQsource region Stonyhurst latitude. degree (HEEQ)
FLARE_CLASSFor Flares (F): HEC (Heliophysics Event Catalogue) GOES soft-xray (SXR) flares from SSW Latest Events. For FE: observed with "SDO", STEREO-A "A" or STEREO-B "B". string
FLARE_START_TIMEStart time of the flare, from HEC GOES SXR flares, SSW Latest Events. UTC
FLARE_END_TIMEEnd time of the flare, from HEC GOES SXR flares, SSW Latest Events. UTC
FLARE_PEAK_TIMEPeak time of the flare, from HEC GOES SXR flares, SSW Latest Events. UTC
CME_SSE_LONG_HEEQFrom HIGeoCAT, CME longitude using Self-Similar Expansion fitting (30 deg half-width). degree (HEEQ)
CME_SSE_LAT_HEEQFrom HIGeoCAT, CME latitude using Self-Similar Expansion fitting (30 deg half-width). degree (HEEQ)
CME_SSE_SPEEDFrom HIGeoCAT, speed of CME apex, km/s
CME_TARGET_SPEEDFrom ARRCAT, CME arrival speed at target location, corrected for SSE shape. km/s
MO_START_TIMEThe start time of the magnetic obstacle, including flux ropes, flux-rope-like, and ejecta signatures. UTC
MO_END_TIMEThe end time of the magnetic obstacle. UTC
MO_BMEANFrom ICMECAT, the mean total magnetic field during the magnetic obstacle. nT
MO_BSTDFrom ICMECAT, the standard deviation of the total magnetic field during the magnetic obstacle. nT
MO_BZMEANFrom ICMECAT, the mean magnetic field Bz component during the magnetic obstacle. nT
MO_BZMINFrom ICMECAT, the minimum magnetic field Bz component during the magnetic obstacle. nT
MO_MVA_AXIS_LONGFrom ICMECAT, longitude of axis from Minimum Variance Analysis (MVA), X=0 deg, Y(west)=90 deg, range [0,360]. degree (SCEQ)
MO_MVA_AXIS_LATFrom ICMECAT, latitude of axis from MVA. +Z(north)=90 deg, -Z(south)=-90 deg, range [-90,90]. degree (SCEQ)
MO_MVA_RATIOFrom ICMECAT, ratio of eigenvalues 2/3 as indicator for success of MVA, must be > 2, NaN otherwise. number
GSR_START_TIMEStart time used for Grad-Shafranov reconstruction (GSR) interval. UTC
GSR_END_TIMEEnd time used for GSR interval. UTC
GSR_AXIS_LONGlongitude of magnetic flux rope axis from GSR, similarly defined as for MVA_AXIS_LONG. degree (SCEQ)
GSR_AXIS_LATlatitude of magnetic flux rope axis from GSR, similarly defined as for MVA_AXIS_LAT. degree (SCEQ)
GSR_IMPACTimpact factor or closest distance of spacecraft to axis, from GSR. AU
VHTXx-component of deHoffmann-Teller frame speed. km/s (SCEQ)
VHTYy-component of deHoffmann-Teller frame speed. km/s (SCEQ)
VHTZz-component of deHoffmann-Teller frame speed. km/s (SCEQ)

Heliocentric Earth Equatorial Coordinates (HEEQ): 
	Z is the solar rotation axis.
	X points from the Sun to the Earth, at the intersection of the solar equator and solar central meridian as seen from Earth.
	Y completes the right handed triad and points to solar west.
	This system is always centered on Earth, regardless of the spacecraft position.
  
SpaceCraft Equatorial Coordinates (SCEQ):
	Z is the solar rotation axis.
	X points from the Sun to the spacecraft, at the intersection of the solar equator and solar central meridian as seen from the spacecraft.
	Y completes the right handed triad and points to solar west.
	Compared to HEEQ, this system is centered on the respective in situ spacecraft, with an orientation that is close to RTN coordinates. 
	The solar equatorial plane as the reference plane is similar for all spacecraft.
	For the position of Earth and the Sun-Earth L1 point, HEEQ and SCEQ are identical.
           
NOTES: 
(1) ICME events catalogued by Winslow et al. at MESSENGER: MO_END_TIME, which is not available, is replaced with ICME_END TIME for the calculation of the magnetic obstacle (MO) parameters.
(2) For the calculation of the MO parameters at MESSENGER during the orbit around Mercury (after 18 March 2011),
    all data points inside the bowshock of Mercury have been removed (according to a list by R. Winslow, UNH, B. Anderson, APL and Lydia Philpott, UBC).
(3) For MVA to be applied to the MO interval, up to 25% of the MO data points may be NaN. Otherwise MVA results are set to NaN.
    This is mostly relevant to MESSENGER in orbit around Mercury, where the ICME observation in the solar wind sometimes contains few data points.
(4) Calculation of the MO parameters at VEX is done with an approximate removal of the induced magnetosphere, with a modified equation
    according to the one in the discussion of Zhang et al. 2008 (doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2007.09.012), with a constant of 3.5 instead of 2.14/2.364,
    in order to account for a larger bowshock distance during a full solar cycle, compared to the solar minimum configuration as studied in this paper.
(5) For events where GSR was not possible but the VHT speeds are given, the interval for the deHoffmann-Teller analysis was MO_START_TIME to MO_END_TIME.
(6) For the VHT speeds at STEREO-B, the plasma speed has been assumed to be purely radial, as no velocity components were available.
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
  We sincerely thank the providers of the individual ICME lists Simon Good, Reka Winslow, Lan Jian and Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla,
  and Jackie Davies and her team at RAL (UK) for providing the CME HI modeling results in the HIGeoCAT.
  We also thank all the instrument teams that were involved in building the imaging, magnetometer and plasma instruments on all these spacecraft!