Propagation of the October/November 2003 CMEs through the heliosphere

Abstract

The solar storms of late October, early November 2003 generated many ICMEs. The Wind, ACE, Ulysses, Cassini, Voyager 2, and Voyager 1 spacecraft are distributed throughout the heliosphere and observe the effects of these ICMEs. We investigate whether these ICMEs form a global merged interaction region. WIND, ACE, and IMP 8 data are combined to produce a plasma and magnetic field data set for these solar events at 1 AU. We use this data set as input to a 1-D MHD model, propagate the solar wind outward, and then compare our predictions with observations. The arrival times of ICMEs at Ulysses, Cassini, and Voyager 2 are consistent with the outward motion of a shell of ICME material; Voyager 1, however, sees no evidence of these ICMEs. These results are consistent with the creation of a large, but not complete, shell of outward-moving material and suggest true GMIRs are rare.