Helium Abundance Variations in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections

Based on the OMNI2 database for the period from 1976 to 2019, the behavior of the relative abundance of helium ions N α / N p is investigated inside interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). It is shown that the previously discovered anticorrelation between N α / N p and the parameter β inside ICMEs is due to the dependence on magnetic pressure (or the magnitude of the interplanetary magnetic field), while the dependence of N α / N p on the magnitude of the thermal pressure weakly falling in a magnetic cloud and increases in EJECTA. The data obtained are consistent with the previously suggested hypothesis that an electric current enriched with helium ions flows inside an ICME [ 1 – 3 ].