Analytical and empirical modelling of the origin and heliospheric propagation of coronal mass ejections, and space weather applications

The focus is on the physical background and comprehension of the origin and the heliospheric propagation of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), which can cause most severe geomagnetic disturbances. The paper considers mainly the analytical modelling, providing useful insight into the nature of ICMEs, complementary to that provided by numerical MHD models. It is concentrated on physical processes related to the origin of CMEs at the Sun, their heliospheric propagation, up to the effects causing geomagnetic perturbations. Finally, several analytical and statistical forecasting tools for space weather applications are described