Propagating shocks in the corona

High resolution observations performed with the Decimeter spectrograph and the multichannel receiver at Nancay were analyzed in the range of 25-75 MHz. Sixty Type II bursts were selected. In this frequency range, type II events are generally associated with other radio emissions (such as storms of type III-U-I bursts); they are preceeded or followed by groups of U-bursts. One third of type II events show a nonuniform frequency drift, usually a steep decrease followed by an abrupt increase. This phenomenon can be explained by the propagation of an extended disturbance through the ambient corona when the density gradient is enhanced. An empirical coronal model is proposed to interpret these observations. The observations at fixed frequency of Type II bursts including fundamental and harmonic components are analyzed. It is shown that the spectrum of the intensity fluctuations differs with the fundamental and the harmonic components. The origin of these differences is discussed.