Abstract　 　　 

　Observations of white light CMEs now extend over the last four solar cycles (SCs). LASCO has now observed all of SC 23 and continues through the rise and maximum phases of SC 24. Since 2007 we can determine rates from both the LASCO and STEREO SECCHI coronagraphs, and in the heliosphere from the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI; 2003 - 2011) heliospheric imager. Manual rates from human observers are now supplemented by identifications made by automatic programs, notably the SEEDS, CACTus and ARTEMIS catalogs.  CME rates have typically been compared with sunspot number (SSN) rates (e.g., Webb & Howard, 1994). Using the automatic catalogs, Luhmann et al. (2011) and Petrie (2013) concluded that since the SC 23/24 minimum, the CME and SSN rates have diverged, with similar SC 24 rise and peak CME rates but much lower SSN rates, which they suggest is related to the weak solar polar magnetic fields during the extended SC 23/24 minimum and the rise and peak of SC 24. However, Wang & Colaninno (2014) point out that an increase in the LASCO data cadence since 2010 caused an increase in the CME rate for the auto catalogs. When corrected, this lowers the SC 24 CME peak, increases the cross correlation (CC) with SSN, and minimizes any “divergence”. Wang & Colaninno also show that due to a selection effect, eliminating so-called “very poor events” from the manual (CDAW) LASCO catalog results in lower CME rates since 2005 and a much better CC. We and the CDAW group suggest that eliminating “narrow” CMEs from the CDAW catalog has the same effect. 

First, I will discuss the prior CME-SSN rate studies and present recent results comparing the SSN with CME rates using data from both the manual and auto catalogs and in the heliosphere from SMEI. Then I present recent results on the CME rate from 1989-1996 using ground-based Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) MK-3 K-coronameter observations. These data enable us to bridge a gap in CME coronagraph observations so that, when corrected for each instrument’s “visibility function”, we will be able to track CME rate nearly continuously over the last 4 SCs. Finally, I discuss the observations of the double peaks observed in both SSN and CME rates over the last several SCs.