Evidence of a complex structure within the 2013 August 19 coronal mass ejection: Radial and longitudinal evolution in the inner heliosphere

Context. Late on 2013 August 19, a coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from an active region located near the far-side central meridian from Earth’s perspective. The event and its accompanying shock were remotely observed by the STEREO-A, STEREO-B, and SOHO spacecraft. The interplanetary counterpart (ICME) was intercepted by MESSENGER near 0.3 au and by both STEREO-A and STEREO-B near 1 au, which were separated from each other by 78° in heliolongitude. Aims. The main objective of this study is to follow the radial and longitudinal evolution of the ICME throughout the inner heliosphere and to examine possible scenarios for the different magnetic flux-rope configuration observed on the solar disk and measured in situ at the locations of MESSENGER and STEREO-A, separated by 15° in heliolongitude, and at STEREO-B, which detected the ICME flank. Methods. Solar disk observations are used to estimate the “magnetic flux-rope type”, namely, the magnetic helicity, axis orientation, and axial magnetic field direction of the flux rope. The graduated cylindrical shell model is used to reconstruct the CME in the corona. The analysis of in situ data, specifically the plasma and magnetic field, is used to estimate the global interplanetary shock geometry and to derive the magnetic flux-rope type at different in situ locations, which is compared to the type estimated from solar disk observations. The elliptical cylindrical analytical model is used for the in situ magnetic flux-rope reconstruction. Results. Based on the CME geometry and on the spacecraft configuration, we find that the magnetic flux-rope structure detected at STEREO-B belongs to the same ICME detected at MESSENGER and STEREO-A. The opposite helicity deduced at STEREO-B might be due to that fact that it intercepted one of the legs of the structure far from the flux-rope axis, in contrast to STEREO-A and MESSENGER, which were crossing through the core of the magnetic flux rope. The different flux-rope orientations measured at MESSENGER and STEREO-A probably arise because the two spacecraft measure a curved, highly distorted, and rather complex magnetic flux-rope topology. The ICME may have suffered additional distortion in its evolution in the inner heliosphere, such as the west flank propagating faster than the east flank when arriving near 1 au. Conclusions. This work illustrates how a wide, curved, highly distorted, and rather complex CME showed different orientations as observed on the solar disk and measured in situ at 0.3 au and near 1 au. Furthermore, the work shows how the ambient conditions can significantly affect the expansion and propagation of the CME and ICME, introducing additional irregularities to the already asymmetric eruption. The study also manifests how these complex structures cannot be directly reconstructed with the currently available models and that multi-point analysis is of the utmost importance in such complex events.Agencia Estatal de Investigació