Sabrina Hurlock
SWPC
Mentors: Curt deKoning and Michael Gehmeyer

Abstract:
Due to the growing reliance of the world on space-based technologies, the ability to predict space weather storms would be an invaluable resource.  As such, we have developed a prototype IDL program, based on the Elliptical Cone Model proposed by Hebe Cremades in 2005, which will help to predict the 3D velocity and direction of a coronal mass ejection.  Using the parametric equations that describe the elliptical cone, we can find the lengths of the semi major and semi minor axes, the orientation or tilt of the ellipse, and the length of the radial axis of the cone.  When used on a sequence of images, this model will predict, upon completion, the 3D velocity of the coronal mass ejection. Explosive solar storms, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are an important driver of space weather as they can trigger geomagnetic storms.  In this poster we describe preliminary results showing the possible cone models that can be fit to the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory)/LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph) CME observation of December 13, 2006.