3He-rich Solar Energetic Particle Events of the Solar Cycle 24

We investigated 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events in the current solar cycle starting in 2009 through 2013. Both 'impulsive' (flare-related) 3He-rich and CME-related 'gradual' events are included. In the last solar cycle, we found the number of observed 3He-rich event correlated with solar activity. The same correlation appears to continue so far in this cycle. However, we found during the onset of last cycle, the number of 3He events had a more gradual rise as solar activity picked up from 1998 to 2000. However, in Solar Cycle 24, there was no detectable 3He-rich event in 2009 and then in 2010 we saw a sudden increase of 21 events a year until the end of 2012. There is no gradual rise in the number of evens as seen in our data set. In this paper, we will review the 3He observations so far in this solar cycle and compare and contrast with those observed previously.