Spotless flares and type II radio bursts

Flares accompanied by type II meter radio bursts that occurred in plages with no visible spots are examined in this paper. There have been found 12 such spotless flares observed in the period of January 1981–August, 1990. Six out of all the flares may be said to have not been associated with any filament activation or disruption. A few of these flares have shown features of major events. The study suggests that a filament activation seems not to be the crucial factor for the occurrence of major flares in regions with no visible spots.