Annales Geophysicae www.ann-geophys.net 0992-7689 1432-0576 21 4 2003 10.5194/angeo-21-847-2003 http://www.ann-geophys.net/21/847/2003/ http://www.ann-geophys.net/21/847/2003/angeo-21-847-2003.html http://www.ann-geophys.net/21/847/2003/angeo-21-847-2003.pdf 847 862 0000-00-00 On the solar origin of interplanetary disturbances observed in the vicinity of the Earth N. Vilmer M. Pick R. Schwenn P. Ballatore J. P. Villain LESIA – UMR CNRS 8109 – Paris Observatory, 5 Place J. Janssen, F-92195 Meudon Cedex, France Max Planck Institut für Aeronomie, Max-Planck-Straße 2, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany LPCE/CNRS Orléans, 3A av. de la Recherche Scientifique, F-45071 Orléans, Franceu, Germany on leave from LPCE/CNRS Orléans, 3A av. de la Recherche Scientifique, F-45071 Orléans, France The solar origin of 40 interplanetary disturbances observed in the vicinity of the Earth between January 1997 and June 1998 is investigated in this paper. Analysis starts with the establishment of a list of Interplanetary Mass Ejections or ICMEs (magnetic clouds, flux ropes and ejecta) and of Interplanetary Shocks measured at WIND for the period for which we had previously investigated the coupling of the interplanetary medium with the terrestrial ionospheric response. A search for associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed by LASCO/SOHO is then performed, starting from an estimation of the transit time of the inter-planetary perturbation from the Sun to the Earth, assumed to be achieved at a constant speed (i.e. the speed measured at 1 AU). EIT/SOHO and Nançay Radioheliograph (NRH) observations are also used as proxies in this identification for the cases when LASCO observations do not allow one to firmly establish the association. The last part of the analysis concerns the identification of the solar source of the CMEs, performed using a large set of solar observations from X-ray to radio wavelengths. In the present study, this association is based on a careful examination of many data sets (EIT, NRH and H images and not on the use of catalogs and of Solar Geophysical Data reports). An association between inter-planetary disturbances and LASCO/CMEs or proxies on the disk is found for 36 interplanetary events. For 32 events, the solar source of activity can also be identified. A large proportion of cases is found to be associated with a flare signature in an active region, not excluding of course the involvement of a filament. Conclusions are finally drawn on the propagation of the disturbances in the interplanetary medium, the preferential association of disturbances detected close to the Earth’s orbit with halos or wide CMEs and the location on the solar disk of solar sources of the interplanetary disturbances during that period.<br><br><b>Key words. </b>Interplanetary physics (interplanetary shocks); solar physics, astrophysics and astronomy (flares and mass ejections)