On the Origins of Solar Metric Type II Bursts

Edward W. Cliver

Abstract

Various possibilities have been raised for the root cause of coronal type II bursts. One long-standing suggestion is that metric type IIs are flare blast waves resulting from explosive heating of the corona. Candidate driver gases for metric IIs include coronal mass ejections (CMEs) or the higher density cores of CMEs such as prominence eruptions or sprays. A related question concerns the relationship of interplanetary/kilometric type II shocks (generally thought to be driven by CMEs) to the coronal/metric type II shocks. Within the past year several papers have addressed these issues. I review these studies and present an analysis of type II bursts and CMEs observed during the first 18 months of the SOHO mission.

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