348 research outputs found
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Vector Magnetic Field Pipeline: Overview and Performance
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) began near-continuous full-disk
solar measurements on 1 May 2010 from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). An
automated processing pipeline keeps pace with observations to produce
observable quantities, including the photospheric vector magnetic field, from
sequences of filtergrams. The primary 720s observables were released in mid
2010, including Stokes polarization parameters measured at six wavelengths as
well as intensity, Doppler velocity, and the line-of-sight magnetic field. More
advanced products, including the full vector magnetic field, are now available.
Automatically identified HMI Active Region Patches (HARPs) track the location
and shape of magnetic regions throughout their lifetime.
The vector field is computed using the Very Fast Inversion of the Stokes
Vector (VFISV) code optimized for the HMI pipeline; the remaining 180 degree
azimuth ambiguity is resolved with the Minimum Energy (ME0) code. The
Milne-Eddington inversion is performed on all full-disk HMI observations. The
disambiguation, until recently run only on HARP regions, is now implemented for
the full disk. Vector and scalar quantities in the patches are used to derive
active region indices potentially useful for forecasting; the data maps and
indices are collected in the SHARP data series, hmi.sharp_720s. Patches are
provided in both CCD and heliographic coordinates.
HMI provides continuous coverage of the vector field, but has modest spatial,
spectral, and temporal resolution. Coupled with limitations of the analysis and
interpretation techniques, effects of the orbital velocity, and instrument
performance, the resulting measurements have a certain dynamic range and
sensitivity and are subject to systematic errors and uncertainties that are
characterized in this report.Comment: 42 pages, 19 figures, accepted to Solar Physic
Recurrent Coronal Jets Induced by Repetitively Accumulated Electric Currents
Three extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) jets recurred in about one hour on 2010
September 17 in the following magnetic polarity of active region 11106. The EUV
jets were observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar
Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board
SDO measured the vector magnetic field, from which we derive the magnetic flux
evolution, the photospheric velocity field, and the vertical electric current
evolution. The magnetic configuration before the jets is derived by the
nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation.
We derive that the jets are above a pair of parasitic magnetic bipoles which
are continuously driven by photospheric diverging flows. The interaction drove
the build up of electric currents that we indeed observed as elongated patterns
at the photospheric level. For the first time, the high temporal cadence of HMI
allows to follow the evolution of such small currents. In the jet region, we
found that the integrated absolute current peaks repetitively in phase with the
171 A flux evolution. The current build up and its decay are both fast, about
10 minutes each, and the current maximum precedes the 171 A by also about 10
minutes. Then, HMI temporal cadence is marginally fast enough to detect such
changes.
The photospheric current pattern of the jets is found associated to the
quasi-separatrix layers deduced from the magnetic extrapolation. From previous
theoretical results, the observed diverging flows are expected to build
continuously such currents. We conclude that magnetic reconnection occurs
periodically, in the current layer created between the emerging bipoles and the
large scale active region field. It induced the observed recurrent coronal jets
and the decrease of the vertical electric current magnitude.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The NWRA Classification Infrastructure: Description and Extension to the Discriminant Analysis Flare Forecasting System (DAFFS)
A classification infrastructure built upon Discriminant Analysis has been
developed at NorthWest Research Associates for examining the statistical
differences between samples of two known populations. Originating to examine
the physical differences between flare-quiet and flare-imminent solar active
regions, we describe herein some details of the infrastructure including:
parametrization of large datasets, schemes for handling "null" and "bad" data
in multi-parameter analysis, application of non-parametric multi-dimensional
Discriminant Analysis, an extension through Bayes' theorem to probabilistic
classification, and methods invoked for evaluating classifier success. The
classifier infrastructure is applicable to a wide range of scientific questions
in solar physics. We demonstrate its application to the question of
distinguishing flare-imminent from flare-quiet solar active regions, updating
results from the original publications that were based on different data and
much smaller sample sizes. Finally, as a demonstration of "Research to
Operations" efforts in the space-weather forecasting context, we present the
Discriminant Analysis Flare Forecasting System (DAFFS), a near-real-time
operationally-running solar flare forecasting tool that was developed from the
research-directed infrastructure.Comment: J. Space Weather Space Climate: Accepted / in press; access
supplementary materials through journal; some figures are less than full
resolution for arXi
Temporal Evolution of the Magnetic Topology of the NOAA Active Region 11158
We studied the temporal evolution of the magnetic topology of the active
region (AR) 11158 based on the reconstructed three-dimensional magnetic fields
in the corona. The \nlfff\ extrapolation method was applied to the 12 minutes
cadence data obtained with the \hmi\ (HMI) onboard the \sdo\ (SDO) during five
days. By calculating the squashing degree factor Q in the volume, the derived
quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) show that this AR has an overall topology,
resulting from a magnetic quadrupole, including an hyperbolic flux tube (HFT)
configuration which is relatively stable at the time scale of the flare ( hours). A strong QSL, which corresponds to some highly sheared arcades
that might be related to the formation of a flux rope, is prominent just before
the M6.6 and X2.2 flares, respectively. These facts indicate the close
relationship between the strong QSL and the high flare productivity of AR
11158. In addition, with a close inspection of the topology, we found a
small-scale HFT which has an inverse tear-drop structure above the
aforementioned QSL before the X2.2 flare. It indicates the existence of
magnetic flux rope at this place. Even though a global configuration (HFT) is
recognized in this AR, it turns out that the large-scale HFT only plays a
secondary role during the eruption. In final, we dismiss a trigger based on the
breakout model and highlight the central role of the flux rope in the related
eruption.Comment: Accepted by Ap
A New Code for Nonlinear Force-Free Field Extrapolation of the Global Corona
Reliable measurements of the solar magnetic field are still restricted to the
photosphere, and our present knowledge of the three-dimensional coronal
magnetic field is largely based on extrapolation from photospheric magnetogram
using physical models, e.g., the nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) model as
usually adopted. Most of the currently available NLFFF codes have been
developed with computational volume like Cartesian box or spherical wedge while
a global full-sphere extrapolation is still under developing. A
high-performance global extrapolation code is in particular urgently needed
considering that Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) can provide full-disk
magnetogram with resolution up to . In this work, we present a
new parallelized code for global NLFFF extrapolation with the photosphere
magnetogram as input. The method is based on magnetohydrodynamics relaxation
approach, the CESE-MHD numerical scheme and a Yin-Yang spherical grid that is
used to overcome the polar problems of the standard spherical grid. The code is
validated by two full-sphere force-free solutions from Low & Lou's
semi-analytic force-free field model. The code shows high accuracy and fast
convergence, and can be ready for future practical application if combined with
an adaptive mesh refinement technique.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 26 pages, 10 figure
Non-potential field formation in the X-shaped quadrupole magnetic field configuration
Some types of solar flares are observed in X-shaped quadrupolar field
configuration. To understand the magnetic energy storage in such a region, we
studied non-potential field formation in an X-shaped quadrupolar field region
formed in the active region NOAA 11967, which produced three X-shaped M-class
flares on February 2, 2014. Nonlinear force-free field modeling was applied to
a time series of vector magnetic field maps from the Solar Optical Telescope on
board Hinode and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board Solar Dynamics
Observatory. Our analysis of the temporal three-dimensional magnetic field
evolution shows that the sufficient free energy had already been stored more
than 10 hours before the occurrence of the first M-class flare and that the
storage was observed in a localized region. In this localized region,
quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) started to develop gradually from 9 hours before
the first M-class flare. One of the flare ribbons that appeared in the first
M-class flare was co-spatial with the location of the QSLs, suggesting that the
formation of the QSLs is important in the process of energy release. These QSLs
do not appear in the potential field calculation, indicating that they were
created by the non-potential field. The formation of the QSLs was associated
with the transverse photospheric motion of the pre-emerged flux and the
emergence of a new flux. This observation indicates that the occurrence of the
flares requires the formation of QSLs in the non-potential field in which free
magnetic energy is stored in advance.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Topological Analysis of Emerging Bipole Clusters Producing Violent Solar Events
During the rising phase of Solar Cycle 24 tremendous activity occurred on the
Sun with fast and compact emergence of magnetic flux leading to bursts of
flares (C to M and even X-class). We investigate the violent events occurring
in the cluster of two active regions (ARs), NOAA numbers 11121 and 11123,
observed in November 2010 with instruments onboard the {\it Solar Dynamics
Observatory} and from Earth. Within one day the total magnetic flux increased
by with the emergence of new groups of bipoles in AR 11123. From all the
events on 11 November, we study, in particular, the ones starting at around
07:16 UT in GOES soft X-ray data and the brightenings preceding them. A
magnetic-field topological analysis indicates the presence of null points,
associated separatrices and quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) where magnetic
reconnection is prone to occur. The presence of null points is confirmed by a
linear and a non-linear force-free magnetic-field model. Their locations and
general characteristics are similar in both modelling approaches, which
supports their robustness. However, in order to explain the full extension of
the analysed event brightenings, which are not restricted to the photospheric
traces of the null separatrices, we compute the locations of QSLs. Based on
this more complete topological analysis, we propose a scenario to explain the
origin of a low-energy event preceding a filament eruption, which is
accompanied by a two-ribbon flare, and a consecutive confined flare in AR
11123. The results of our topology computation can also explain the locations
of flare ribbons in two other events, one preceding and one following the ones
at 07:16 UT. Finally, this study provides further examples where flare-ribbon
locations can be explained when compared to QSLs and only, partially, when
using separatrices.Comment: 42 pages, 15 figure
Coronal magnetic reconnection driven by CME expansion -- the 2011 June 7 event
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupt and expand in a magnetically structured
solar corona. Various indirect observational pieces of evidence have shown that
the magnetic field of CMEs reconnects with surrounding magnetic fields,
forming, e.g., dimming regions distant from the CME source regions. Analyzing
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations of the eruption from AR 11226 on
2011 June 7, we present the first direct evidence of coronal magnetic
reconnection between the fields of two adjacent ARs during a CME. The
observations are presented jointly with a data-constrained numerical
simulation, demonstrating the formation/intensification of current sheets along
a hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) at the interface between the CME and the
neighbouring AR 11227. Reconnection resulted in the formation of new magnetic
connections between the erupting magnetic structure from AR 11226 and the
neighboring active region AR 11227 about 200 Mm from the eruption site. The
onset of reconnection first becomes apparent in the SDO/AIA images when
filament plasma, originally contained within the erupting flux rope, is
re-directed towards remote areas in AR 11227, tracing the change of large-scale
magnetic connectivity. The location of the coronal reconnection region becomes
bright and directly observable at SDO/AIA wavelengths, owing to the presence of
down-flowing cool, dense (10^{10} cm^{-3}) filament plasma in its vicinity. The
high-density plasma around the reconnection region is heated to coronal
temperatures, presumably by slow-mode shocks and Coulomb collisions. These
results provide the first direct observational evidence that CMEs reconnect
with surrounding magnetic structures, leading to a large-scale re-configuration
of the coronal magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
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