Skip to main content
Log in

Propagation characteristics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the corona and interplanetary space

  • Review Paper
  • Published:
Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) play an important role in space weather. The propagation characteristics of CMEs in the Corona and interplanetary space determine whether, when and how the CME will hit the Earth. To this end, a lot of progress has been made both on observational and numerical studies of CMEs. With the development of the advanced observational, theoretical and numerical methods, there emerges more and more research on the morphology, the kinematic evolution, the prediction of the arrival at 1 AU and the acceleration/deceleration processes of CMEs. Moreover, many direct observations and simulations have revealed that the CMEs may not propagate along a straight trajectory both in the corona and interplanetary space. Both observational and numerical studies have shown that, when two or more CMEs collide with each other, their kinematic characteristics may change significantly. Here, we present a review of the recent progress associated with the different aspects of CMEs, including their interplanetary counterparts ICMEs, especially focusing on the initiation of the CME, the CMEs’ propagation characteristics, interaction with the background solar wind structures, the deflection of the CMEs, the interaction between successive CMEs, the particle acceleration associated with successive CMEs’ interaction, and the effect of compound events on Earth’s magnetosphere.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Adapted from Shen et al. (2018a)

Fig. 3

From Li et al. (2020)

Fig. 4

Adapted from Li et al. (2021)

Fig. 5

From Zhang (2004)

Fig. 6

Adapted from Gopalswamy et al. (2000b)

Fig. 7

From Vršnak and Zic (2007)

Fig. 8

From Vršnak et al. (2013)

Fig. 9

From Török et al. (2018)

Fig. 10

From Jin et al. (2017b)

Fig. 11

From Shen et al. (2014)

Fig. 12

From Shiota and Kataoka (2016)

Fig. 13

From Shen et al. (2011a)

Fig. 14

From Gui et al. (2011)

Fig. 15

From Kay et al. (2015)

Fig. 16

From Wang et al. (2004)

Fig. 17

From Zhou and Feng (2017)

Fig. 18

From Zhuang et al. (2019)

Fig. 19

From Liu et al. (2019)

Fig. 20

From Savani et al. (2011)

Fig. 21

Adapted from Gopalswamy et al. (2001b)

Fig. 22

From Wang et al. (2003a)

Fig. 23
Fig. 24

From Lugaz et al. (2005)

Fig. 25

Adapted from Shen et al. (2012b)

Fig. 26

From Shen et al. (2012a)

Fig. 27

From Shen et al. (2013b)

Fig. 28

From Werner et al. (2019)

Fig. 29

From Shen et al. (2018a)

Fig. 30

From Scolini et al. (2020)

Fig. 31

From Li et al. (2012)

Fig. 32

From Shen et al. (2008)

Fig. 33

From Xu et al. (2019a)

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Grant no. XDB 41000000. FS, YL and XF were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41774184, 41974202 and 42030204), and the Specialized Research Fund for State Key Laboratories. CS, MX and YW were supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42004143, 41822405, 41774181 and 41774178).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fang Shen or Chenglong Shen.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shen, F., Shen, C., Xu, M. et al. Propagation characteristics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the corona and interplanetary space. Rev. Mod. Plasma Phys. 6, 8 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41614-022-00069-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41614-022-00069-1

Keywords

Navigation