THE RELATIONSHIP OF GREEN-LINE TRANSIENTS TO WHITE-LIGHT CORONAL MASSEJECTIONS

We report observations by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (L ASCO) on the SOHO spacecraft of three coronal green line transients th at could be clearly associated with coronal mass elections (CMEs) dete cted in Thomson-scattered white light. Two of these events, with speed s > 25 km s(-1), may be classified as 'whip-like' transients. They are associated with the core of the white-light CMEs, identified with eru pting prominence material, rather than with the leading edge of the CM Es. The third green-line transient has a markedly different appearance and is more gradual than the other two, with a projected outward spee d < 10 km s(-1). This event corresponds to the leading edge of a 'stre amer blowout' type of CME. A dark void is left behind in the emission- line corona following each of the fast eruptions. Both fast emission-l ine transients start off as a loop structure rising up from close to t he solar surface. We suggest that the driving mechanism for these even ts may be the emergence of new bipolar magnetic regions on the surface of the Sun, which destabilize the ambient corona and cause an eruptio n. The possible relationship of these events to recent X-ray observati ons of CMEs is briefly discussed.