CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS (CMES) ARE MASSIVE ERUPTIONS OF SOLAR PLASMA THAT PROPAGATE THROUGH INTERPLANETARY SPACE WHERE THEY CAN CAUSE ADVERSE GEOMAGNETIC DISTURBANCES IF THEY IMPACT THE EARTH. WHILE IT IS NOW POSSIBLE TO SIMULATE CME PROPAGATION AND ARRIVAL TIMES TO WITHIN A FEW HOURS THE EARLY PHASE OF CMES REMAINS A MYSTERY WITH MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS REGARDING INITIATION PROCESSES AND ENERGY RELEASE AND DEPOSITION. IN THIS PROPOSED STUDY THE PRECURSORS OF CMES WILL BE STUDIED TO ANSWER HOW A CME IS TRIGGERED AND WHAT SIGNALS INDICATE A POSSIBLE ERUPTION. WE WILL CONDUCT DATA-DRIVEN THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS (MHD) SIMULATIONS WITH THE SPACE WEATHER MODELING FRAMEWORK TO OBTAIN A COMPLETE GLOBAL CONFIGURATION OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND ELECTRON AND ION DENSITY TEMPERATURE AND VELOCITY FROM THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE UP INTO THE CORONA. OUR SIMULATION IS ADAPTIVELY MESHED WHICH PROVIDES US DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE ACTIVE REGIONS AS WELL AS THE EVOLUTION OF THE ERUPTED CMES WITH EXTREMELY HIGH RESOLUTION. WE WILL THEN UTILIZE THE CHIANTI ATOMIC DATABASE TO PRODUCE FOR THE FIRST TIME A FULL SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF THE 3D MHD SIMULATION RESULTS. SPECTRAL LINES WILL BE SYNTHESIZED AT EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET AND VISIBLE WAVE LENGTHS WHICH WILL BE COMPARED TO THOSE OBSERVED BY HINODE AND GROUND BASED MLSO/COMP. WE WILL ALSO USE SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS FROM THE UPGRADED COMP (ESTIMATED TO OPERATE IN 2017). THESE WILL ALLOW US TO DIRECTLY COMPARE OUR SIMULATIONS WITH REAL SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS WHICH WILL ALLOW TO INVESTIGATE THE HEATING RATES AND ENERGY BUDGET OF THE CME. A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW CMES EVOLVE DURING THEIR EARLY PHASE DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THE HELIOPHYSICS RESEARCH PROGRAM GOALS AS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER 4.1 OF SMD SCIENCE GOAL TO (2) ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONNECTIONS THAT LINK THE SUN THE EARTH PLANETARY SPACE ENVIRONMENTS AND THE OUTER REACHES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. THE SIMULATION RESULTS OF CMES IN THE SOLAR CORONA CAN ALSO BE EXTENDED TO MODEL CME DYNAMICS IN INTERPLANETARY SPACE THUS HELPING US TO (3) DEVELOP THE KNOWLEDGE AND CAPABILITY TO DETECT AND PREDICT EXTREME CONDITIONS IN SPACE TO PROTECT LIFE AND SOCIETY AND TO SAFEGUARD HUMAN AND ROBOTIC EXPLORERS BEYOND EARTH.