CME-CME Interaction near the Earth

In coronagraph images, it is often observed that two successive CMEs merge into one another and form complex structures. This phenomenon, so called CME cannibalism caused by the differences in ejecting times and propagating velocities, can significantly degrade forecast capability of space weather, especially if it occur near the Earth. Regarding this, we attempt to analyze the cases that two CMEs are expecting to meet around 1 AU based on their arrival times. For this, we select 13 CME-CME pairs detected by ACE, Wind and/or STEREO-A/B. We find that 8 CME-CME pairs show a shock structure, which means they already met and became one structure. Meanwhile 5 pairs clearly show magnetic holes between two respective shock structures. Based on detailed investigation for each pair and statistical analysis for all events, we can get clues for following questions: 1) How does the solar wind structure change when they are merging? 2) Are there any systematic characteristics of merging process according to the CME properties? 3) Is the merging process associated with the occurrence of energetic storm particles? 4) What causes errors in calculating CME arrival times? Our results and discussions can be helpful to understand energetic phenomena not only close to the Sun but also near the Earth.