Earth-Affecting Coronal Mass Ejections without Obvious Low Coronal Signatures

We present a study of the origins of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were not accompanied by obvious low coronal signatures (LCSs) and yet were responsible for appreciable disturbances at 1 AU. These CMEs characteristically start slowly. In several examples, EUV images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory reveal coronal dimming and a post-eruption arcade when we make difference images with long enough temporal separations, which are commensurate with the slow initial development of the CME. Data from the EUV imager and COR coronagraphs of the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, which provide the limb views of Earth-bound CMEs, greatly help us limit the time interval in which the CME forms and undergoes initial acceleration. For other CMEs, we find similar dimming, although only with lower confidence as to its link to the CME. It is noted that even these unclear events result in unambiguous flux rope signatures in in situ data at 1 AU. There is a tendency that the CME source regions are located near coronal holes or open field regions. This may have implications for both the initiation of the stealthy CME in the corona and its outcome in the heliosphere. In in situ data, the ICME from a stealthy CME can sometimes be buried in other structures such as high speed solar wind streams and stream interaction regions. CMEs without obvious LCSs continue to challenge us to understand and predict the occurrence and magnitude of geomagnetic storms.