ENERGETIC (SIMILAR-TO-1 TO 50 MEV) PROTONS ASSOCIATED WITH EARTH-DIRECTED CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS

During the period from January through mid-May, 1997, four large Earth -directed CMEs were observed by the Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronogr aph (LASCO). These CMEs were associated with long-lasting fluxes of > 1.6 MeV protons detected by the Energetic and Relativistic Nuclei and Electron instrument (ERNE). However, the magnitudes of energetic proto n events differed dramatically on different occasions. In strong proto n events, production of 10-50 MeV protons started during expansion of the coronal Moreton wave in the western hemisphere of the Sun. The new SOHO observations suggest that potentialities of CMEs to produce ener getic particles in the interplanetary medium crucially depend on the p revious evolution of the explosion below similar to 2R(.). Forecasting of the near-Earth > 10 MeV proton intensity requires multiwavelength observations of the early phase of an event, particularly the Extreme- ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) observations.