The authors discuss the components of consensual qualitative research (CQR) using open-ended questions to gather data, using words to describe phenomena, studying a few cases intensively, recognizing the importance of context, using an inductive analytic process, using a team and making decisions by consensus, using auditors, and verifying results by systematically checking against the raw data. The three steps for conducting CQR are developing and coding domains, constructing core ideas, and developing categories to describe consistencies across cases (cross analysis). Criteria for evaluating CQR are trustworthiness of the method, coherence of the results, representativeness of the results to the sample, testimonial validity, applicability of the results, and replicability across samples. Finally, the authors discuss implications for research, practice, and training.

The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method's introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in terms of the consensus process, biases, research teams, data collection, data analysis, and writing up the results and discussion sections of articles. On the basis of problems that have arisen in each of these areas, the authors made recommendations for modifications of the method. The authors concluded that CQR is a viable qualitative method and suggest several ideas for research on the method itself.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched on 11 February 2010 at 15:23 UT from Kennedy Space Center aboard an Atlas V 401 (AV-021) launch vehicle. A series of apogee-motor firings lifted SDO from an initial geosynchronous transfer orbit into a circular geosynchronous orbit inclined by 28°about the longitude of the SDO-dedicated ground station in New Mexico. SDO began returning science data on 1 May 2010. SDO is the first space-weather mission in NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) Program. SDO's main goal is to understand, driving toward a predictive capability, those solar variations that influence life on Earth and humanity's technological systems. The SDO science investigations will determine how the Sun's magnetic field is generated and structured, how this stored magnetic energy is released into the heliosphere and geospace as the solar wind, energetic particles, and variations in the solar irradiance. Insights gained from SDO investigations will also lead to an increased understanding of the role that solar variability plays in changes in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. The SDO mission includes three scientific investigations (the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI)), a spacecraft bus, and a dedicated ground station to handle the telemetry. The Goddard Space Flight Center built and will operate the spacecraft during its planned five-year mission life; this includes: commanding the spacecraft, receiving the science data, and forwarding that data to the science teams. The science investigations teams at Stanford University, Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), and University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) will process, analyze, distribute, and archive the science data. We will describe the building of SDO and the science that it will provide to NASA.

[1] We present the results of an investigation of the sequence of events from the Sun to the Earth that ultimately led to the 88 major geomagnetic storms (defined by minimum Dst À100 nT) that occurred during 1996-2005. The results are achieved through cooperative efforts that originated at the Living with a Star (LWS) Coordinated DataAnalysis Workshop (CDAW) held at George Mason University in March 2005. On the basis of careful examination of the complete array of solar and in situ solar wind observations, we have identified and characterized, for each major geomagnetic storm, the overall solar-interplanetary (solar-IP) source type, the time, velocity, and angular width of the source coronal mass ejection (CME), the type and heliographic location of the solar source region, the structure of the transient solar wind flow with the storm-driving component specified, the arrival time of shock/disturbance, and the start and ending times of the corresponding IP CME (ICME). The storm-driving component, which possesses a prolonged and enhanced southward magnetic field (B s ), may be an ICME, the sheath of shocked plasma (SH) upstream of an ICME, a corotating interaction region (CIR), or a combination of these structures. We classify the Solar-IP sources into three broad types: (1) S-type, in which the storm is associated with a single ICME and a single CME at the Sun; (2) M-type, in which the storm is associated with a complex solar wind flow produced by multiple interacting ICMEs arising from multiple halo CMEs launched from the Sun in a short period; (3) C-type, in which the storm is associated with a CIR formed at the leading edge of a high-speed stream originating from a solar coronal hole (CH). For the 88 major storms, the S-type, M-type, and C-type events number 53 (60%), 24 (27%), and 11 (13%), respectively. For the 85 events for which the surface source regions could be investigated, 54 (63%) of the storms originated in solar active regions, 11 (13%) in quiet Sun regions associated with quiescent filaments or filament channels, and 11 (13%) were associated with coronal holes. Remarkably, nine (11%) CME-driven events showed no sign of eruptive features on the surface or in the low corona (e.g., no flare, no coronal dimming, and no loop arcade, etc.), even though all the available solar observations in a suitable time period were carefully examined. Thus while it is generally true that a major geomagnetic storm is more likely to be driven by a frontside fast halo CME associated with a major flare, our study indicates a broad distribution of source properties. The implications of the results for space weather forecasting are briefly discussed.

Abstract. An earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed on May 12, 1997 by the SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). The CME, originating north of the central solar meridian, was later observed by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) as a "halo" CME: a bright expanding ring centered about the occulting disk. Beginning at about 04:35 UT, EIT recorded several CME signatures, including dimming regions close to the eruption, post-eruption arcade formation, and a bright wavefront propagating quasi-radially from the source region. Each of these phenomena appear to be associated with the same eruption, and the onset time of these features corresponds with the estimated onset time observed in LASCO. We discuss the correspondence of these features as observed by EIT with the structure of the CME in the LASCO data.

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Abstract. Halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) had been rarely reported in coronagraph observations of the Sun before the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. Since mid-1996, however, the SOHO Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instruments have observed many halo or partial-halo CMEs. A halo CME, especially when associated with solar activity near sun center, is important for space weather concerns because it suggests the launch of a potentially geoeffective disturbance toward Earth. During the post-solar minimum period from December 1996 to June 1997, we found that all six halo CMEs that were likely Earthward-directed were associated with shocks, magnetic clouds, and moderate geomagnetic storms at Earth 3-5 days later. The results imply that magnetic cloud-like structures are a general characteristic of CMEs. Most of the storms were driven by strong, sustained southward fields either in the magnetic clouds, in the post-shock region, or both. We discuss the characteristics of the halo events observed during this period, their associated signatures near the solar surface, and their usefulness as predictors of space weather at Earth.

In an effort to understand what an '' EIT wave '' is and what its causes are, we have looked for correlations between the initiation of EIT waves and the occurrence of other solar phenomena. An EIT wave is a coronal disturbance, typically appearing as a diffuse brightening propagating across the Sun. A catalog of EIT waves, covering the period from 1997 March through 1998 June, was used in this study. For each EIT wave, the catalog gives the heliographic location and a rating for each wave, where the rating is determined by the reliability of the observations. Since EIT waves are transient, coronal phenomena, we have looked for correlations with other transient, coronal phenomena: X-ray flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and metric type II radio bursts. An unambiguous correlation between EIT waves and CMEs has been found. The correlation of EIT waves with flares is significantly weaker, and EIT waves frequently are not accompanied by radio bursts. To search for trends in the data, proxies for each of these transient phenomena are examined. We also use the accumulated data to show the robustness of the catalog and to reveal biases that must be accounted for in this study.