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This is one of the most completely detailed cartoons in the "standard model" sequence. Note that the basic features of this cartoon go back to Hirayama or even before (see the Strauss-Papagiannis cartoon from 1971, for example). The paper analyzes the limb flare of December 2, 1991, which was perhaps the first clearly-observed "plasmoid" event from Yohkoh. To my mind the cartoon implies obvious mismatches with the observations (e.g., why is the plasmoid not super-hot, since it's fed by reconnection too? Where is the convincing evidence for a fast-mode termination shock?) but on the other hand it is based exactly on the observations - except for the usual tendentious names - so one cannot be too critical.
August 13, 2006