Prominence mass ejections and their effects on the corona. I - The eruptive prominence of 21 August 1973 and the surge of 4 December 1973
A previous treatment of prominence-induced coronal responses is extended to X-ray and H-alpha observations of an eruptive prominence and a surge by using a time-dependent two-dimensional single-fluid MHD computer code that neglects dissipation and radiation. The two events and their observation are described, and some physical parameters of the coronal plasma are derived. The observed coronal responses to ascending prominences are analyzed with the aid of the cited computer code. The results obtained indicate that: (1) the coronal response to an eruptive prominence may be simulated with a density-dominated pressure pulse of long duration; (2) the response to a surge may be simulated with a temperature pulse of short duration; and (3) the investigated eruptive-prominence disturbance injected a mass of approximately 10 to the 16th power g into the corona and was associated with a coronal transient having a calculated velocity of 275 km/s at a distance of 1.5 solar radii.