Dasso, S., C. H. Mandrini, B. Schmieder, H. Cremades, C. Cid, Y. Cerrato, E. Saiz, P. Démoulin, A. N. Zhukov, L. Rodriguez, A. Aran, M. Menvielle, and S. Poedts, Linking two consecutive nonmerging magnetic clouds with their solar sources, Journal of Geophysical Research (Space Physics), 114, A02109 (2009) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
Date: 2019 February 22
Update: 2019 November 20
The merging of two CMEs (or "cannibalism" of one by another) often features in anecdotal descriptions of unusual ICME properties in the heliosphere. This cartoon describes two CMEs in close succession, represented as flux ropes (one with dotted lines, one with solid ones), arguing that they originated in distinct solar events (SOL2005-05-13T12:54, C1.5 and SOL2005-05-13T16:32, M8.0). The authors aver that these ICMES did not actually merge, but simply produced juxtaposed effects at the observing spacecraft.