Solar energetic proton events and coronal mass ejections near solar minimum

We have examined the association of coronal mass ejections (CME's) with solar energetic (9-23 MeV) proton (SEP) events during the 1983-1985 approach to solar minimum. Twenty-two of 25 SEP events were associated with CME's, a result comparable to that previously found for the period 1979-1982 around solar maximum. Peak SEP fluxes were correlated with CME speeds but not with CME angular sizes. In addition, many associated CME's lay well out of the ecliptic plane. In a reverse study using all west hemisphere CME's of speeds exceeding 800 km/s and covering the period 1979-1985, we found that 29 of 31 events originating on the solar disk or limb were associated with observed SEP's. However, in contrast to the previous study, we found no cases of SEP events associated with magnetically well connected flares of short duration that lacked CME's.