Coronal Dimmings and Energetic CMEs

Abstract

We have analyzed the coronal dimmings for seven fast (> 600 km/s) coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occurring between 23 April and 9 May which were associated with flares from NOAA active region (AR) 8210. These dimming regions were identified by their strong depletion in coronal emission within a half hour of the estimated time of CME lift-off. They included areas which were as dark as quiescent coronal holes as well as other regions with weaker brightness depletions. We found that the extended dimming areas in these events generally mapped out the apparent "footprint" of the CME. In two of the seven cases, a pair of dimmings were more or less symmetrically positioned north and south of the flare site. In the five remaining cases, the dimmings were most prominent to the north of AR 8210 (approximately S15 latitude) and extended well north of the solar equator, consistent with the locations of the CMEs. We discuss the implications of these results for the sigmoid/double dimming/flux rope model of CMEs.