CACTUS CME Event Lists

List Purpose

This list contains parameters describing coronal mass ejections (CMEs) autonomously detected by CACTus in image sequences from SOHO/LASCO or STEREO/SECCHI.

Origins of the List

The CACTus software package (Computer Aided CME Tracking) was developed by the Solar Influences Data Center (SIDC) of the Royal Obervatory of Belgium; the project was co-funded by ESA (16913/03/NL/LvH). See URLs http://www.sidc.be/cactus/ and http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/cactus/

List Parameters

Field Name	Description
record_id	Event Identification number (HEC internal number)
time_start	Onset time, earliest indication of liftoff
dt0	Duration of liftoff (hours)
pa	Position angle (degrees, counterclockwise from North)
da	Angular width of the CME (degrees)
v	Median velocity (km/s)
dv	Variation (1 sigma) of velocity over the width of the CME
minv	Lowest velocity detected within the CME
maxv	Highest velocity detected within the CME
halo	II if da greater than 90, III if da greater than 180, IV if da greater than 270, indicating potential halo/partial halo/CME ????
cme_number	CME number [[corresponds to column 'CME' in the original file without leading zeros]]
html	Link to details and graphs of specified CME [yymm-CME0010]

Caviats

The CME list is automatically generated by CACTus; there is no human intervention or supervision at this stage. Caution should be used when employing the data for statistical purposes.

When any CACTus data are used please cite one of the following publications: