Improving Space Weather Forecasting With Wide-Field EUV Observations

Observation of the solar corona from L5/L1 using suitably-chosen EUV wavelengths offers the possibility of addressing two major goals that will improve our ability to forecast and predict geoeffective space weather events: 1.) improve our understanding of the coronal conditions that control the opening and closing of the corona to the heliosphere, and 2.) improve our understanding of the physical processes that control the evolution of CMEs and the formation of shocks from the solar surface out to beyond the nominal source surface. Forecasting models such as EUHFORIA find that predictions at 1 au are extremely sensitive to the initial conditions input to the model, and EUV imaging plus spectroscopic imaging data, such as that proposed by the COSIE investigation, can determine 8 of the 10 parameters used. This combination of EUV measurements can help to: i.) determine coronal structuring from its roots out to beyond 2.5 R_s; ii.) measure the changes in coronal connectivity; iii.) distinguish between and test solar wind models; iv.) establish the impact of pre-existing coronal structures on CME evolution; v.) confront theories of SEP acceleration and preconditioning; and vi.) establish the extent of energy release behind CMEs.