Authors: Samuel Hart (Southwest Research Institute), Radoslav Bučik (Southwest Research Institute)

As fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs) propagate away from the Sun, they interact with the ambient interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and plasma, often driving a shock. This interaction causes the associated ejecta to deflect slower-moving plasma ahead, resulting in the IMF draping around the CME. The draping pattern depends on the CME’s properties, including speed, size, and relative lift-off location.  We present direct observational evidence of IMF meandering due to a propagating CME that “pushes” the IMF around it, and affects a series of isolated, short-lived 3He-rich injections, and are measured by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). These injections exhibited different path lengths, likely due to the stretching and meandering of the open field lines around the passing CME. These observations provide a unique opportunity to study particle transport along meandering field lines connected to the same source regions.