Interplanetary shock wave extent in the inner heliosphere as observed by multiple spacecraft

For over an entire solar cycle, from the end of 1974 until the beginning of 1986, the twin Helios spacecraft explored the inner heliosphere. These in situ, high-resolution plasma and magnetic field measurements covered heliocentric distances between 0.3 and 1 AU from the Sun and are of particular interest to studies of space weather phenomena. During this period the two spacecraft detected 395 ICME-driven shocks and these waves were found to be driven by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). Based on these multi-spacecraft measurements, which include a third vantage point with the observations from ISEE-3/IMP-8, the longitudinal extent of the shock waves were measured in the inner heliosphere. It was found that shock waves have about a 50% chance to be observed by two different locations separated by 90°90°. In practice, one can expect with about a 50% chance that the shock driven by a limb coronal mass ejections (CMEs) will hit the Earth, considering the expansion in longitude of shock waves driven by their associated ICMEs. For a larger separation the uncertainty increases, as only a few cases could be observed. With the absence of simultaneous solar disk observations one can then no longer unequivocally identify the shock waves observed at each spacecraft.

Research highlights
► Shock waves can extend to large longitudinal angles.
► A limb CME driven shock has about 50% chance to hit the Earth.
► A significant number of single-spacecraft observations were found for small angular distances between the observations locations.