The period of July 10-14, 2000, saw a large number of energetic solar events ending with a very energetic flare that was associated with a large solar energetic particle event and a fast halo coronal mass ejection (CME) that produced the largest geomagnetic disturbance since 1989. This paper tries to summarize the complex coronal activity observed during this period, in order to establish a background for a number of papers in this topical issue. The GOES X-ray data are presented. Data animations of observations from EIT and LASCO C2 and C3 are presented on the accompanying CD-ROM. The observations around the time of the three X-class flares are considered. EIT observations of the Bastille Day flare show coronal brightening followed by dimming. LASCO had good data coverage for all three events. For one of the flares, no coronal response was seen. The other two flares are associated with halo CMEs. The timing suggests that the start of the flares and CMEs are simultaneous to approximately 30 minutes. Analysis of the LASCO and EIT images following the Bastille Day flare show the arrival of energetic particles at SOHO at approximately 10:41UT on July 14. Individual features of these CMEs have been tracked and the height-time plots used to estimate the dynamics of the CMEs. The initial speed and deceleration of the halo CMEs estimated from the fitting of height-time plots are compared with the in situ observations at L1. The three flares are identified as the solar sources of three shocks observed at 1AU. Finally, it is stressed that global heliospheric effects during periods of exceptional activity should consider a cumulative scenario rather than events in isolation.
Authors: Micahel D. Andrews
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Publication Status: To Appear in Soalr Physics Dec 2001
Last Modified: 2001-11-30 09:22