Live Catalogue and Statistical Study of Helium-3 Rich Time Periods over the Last Two Solar Cycles

Authors: Samuel T. Hart (UTSA), Maher A. Dayeh (Southwest Research Institute), Radoslav Bučík (SwRI), Mihir I. Desai (SwRI), Robert W. Ebert (SwRI), Gang Li (University of Alabama - Huntsville), George C. Ho (JHUAPL), Glenn M. Mason (JHUAPL)

Using ULEIS observations onboard ACE and SIT observations onboard STEREO-A and STEREO-B, we have identified 851 3He-rich time periods between September 1997 and March 2021. We include all event types with observed 3He enhancements such as CIRs, gradual SEP events, IP shock passages, and most notably impulsive SEP events. We employ two different mass separation techniques to obtain the 3He, 4He, Fe, and O fluences for each time period, and we determine the 3He/4He and Fe/O abundance ratios between 0.32 – 0.45 MeV/nucleon and 0.64 – 1.28 MeV/nucleon. We find a clear correlation in both the 3He/4He and Fe/O abundance ratios between both energy ranges, noting that 3He/4He at higher energies is generally larger than that at lower energies. We find two distinct trends in the 3He/4He vs. Fe/O relation. For low 3He/4He values, there is a positive correlation between 3He/4He and Fe/O. However, at 3He/4He ~ 0.3, Fe/O appears to reach a limit and the correlation weakens significantly. We are releasing a live catalogue of 3He-rich time periods that will include the results highlighted in this poster, as well as the onset and end times of the 3He enhancements. This catalogue will be available for public use, and we will continue to update this catalogue as we add new spacecraft (e.g., Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter), identify event types (IP shocks, impulsive SEP events, etc.), and add new parameters such as remote observations detailing characteristics of the events’ active regions.