Download - Reviewing the Summer School Solar Labs
Background
• Target Audience is 1st year graduate students• Excellent set of activities
using research quality materials
• Developed independently with little coordination
• Sequencing sometimes rough• Developed on multiple platforms
Minor Renovation
• Separate goals so labs build on one another
• Group related activities
• Use uniform platform (CISMDX) where appropriate
• Introduce guided inquiry questions
• Continue to include most resent research findings and professional tools
Today’s Mission
• Identify fundamental concepts that students should have after attending the summer school
• Continue to evolve the summer school material to reflect the latest research findings and tools.
Solar Labs
• Solar Labs– Lab 2: Structure of the near Solar Magnetic Field– Lab 3: Sources of the Solar Wind– Lab 4: Heliospheric Structure– Lab 5: Evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections
• Holistic Goal– Study the structure and evolution of the solar
corona and solar wind and their role as drivers of geospace processes.
Lab 2: Structure of Near Solar Magnetic Field
• Overall Goal: Holistic understanding of solar magnetic field at various phases in the solar cycle
• Activity 1: Use synoptic maps to study the structure of active regions at various phases in the solar cycle.
• Activity 2: Use MAS results to visualize the magnetic field structure at various phases in the solar cycle.
Lab 2: Structure of Near Solar Magnetic Field
• Goal 1: Structure and Evolution of Active Regions– White light vs. magnetogram– Magnetograms from rotation
to rotation– Magnetograms over the solar cycle– Magnetograms from
one cycle to the next
Lab 2: Structure of Near Solar Magnetic Field
• Goal 2:Structure of solar magnetic field during solar minimum– Br = 0 contour is simple
– Closed field lines connect across these contours– Closed lines confined to
lower latitudes near the sun– Open field lines originate
near poles– Open field lines separated
by a current sheet
• Goal 3: Compare the structure of the solar magnetic field at solar minimum and solar maximum. – Br=0 contour more complicated for solar maximum – closed and open field lines can originate from almost
anywhere – Close field lines still do not
extend far from the sun– Open field lines still
separated by a current sheet– Solar Max Current sheet
is far more complicated
Lab 2: Structure of Near Solar Magnetic Field
Lab 3: Sources of the Solar Wind
• Overall Goals– Students will be able to identify the likely sources of
fast solar wind. – Interpret the coronal hole maps generated by WSA
run at SEC.
Lab 3: Sources of the Solar Wind
• Goal 1:Relationship between photospheric magnetic field and coronal hole structure – compare synoptic magneto-grams and EIT images – observe that coronal holes with areas away from active
regions – differences between the coronal hole structures at solar
minimum and solar maximum– polar coronal holes common during solar minimum– coronal holes at lower latitudes likely at solar maximum – open field line foot points occur at coronal holes
Lab 3: Sources of the Solar Wind
• Goal 2: Relationship between coronal hole structure, open field lines, and solar wind speed
– Slow solar wind is observed near the current sheet while fast solar wind is observed away from the current sheet.
– Parcels of solar wind at 5 solar radii can be traced back to a particular coronal hole on the sun.
– Solar wind near the current sheet originates nearer the edges of coronal holes.
– Solar wind away from the current sheet originates nearer the middle of the coronal holes.
Lab 4: Heliospheric Structure
• Overall Goal: Students will explore structures in the solar wind including changes with distance, variation in the azimuthal direction, and properties of co-rotating interaction regions.– Activity 1: Use visualization and line plots to explore
the variations with distance and latitude. – Activity 2: Use visualizations and line plots to explore
variations across CIR boundaries.
Lab 4: Heliospheric Structure
• Goal 1: Radial flow with parameters that vary with distance from the sun.
– density and magnetic field strength decrease as roughly 1/r2 – Velocity is radial and roughly constant with distance from the
sun out to 1 AU.– relate the last two observations to the continuity equation and
frozen in flux – explore the temperature profile and relate it to the equation of
state
Lab 4: Heliospheric Structure
• Goal 2: Solar wind speeds vary with latitude in a way that changes depending on the solar cycle phase. – solar minimum the solar wind is
highly structured with fast solar wind at the poles and slow solar wind near the solar equator
– solar maximum, the solar wind is less ordered, on average being isotropic
Lab 4: Heliospheric Structure
• Goal 3: Properties of Magnetic field segment structure and Co-rotating Interaction Regions (CIR’s)– Existence of Magnetic Segments
and CIR’s– Relation between magnetic segment
boundaries and CIR’s– CIR’s involve interaction of fast
and slow solar wind– Evidence for shocks at CIR boundaries
• Change in velocity • Change in density• Change in magnetic field
Lab 5: Evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections
• Predict arrival time of a CME from white light corona images– Activity: Use difference coronagraphs to
estimate the velocity of CME and its arrival time
• Explore structure of CME at solar minimum and solar maximum– Activity: Use simulation results to visualize
evolution of CME structure as it travels from the sun
Lab 5: Evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections
• Goal 1: CME arrival time can be predicted form difference coronagraphs.– A “halo” CME is the result of a CME
launched almost directly towards Earth.– The expansion rate can be used to
estimate the launch speed of the CME– The speed is filtered by an average
acceleration due to the solar wind conditions that the CME evolves in.
Lab 5: Evolution of Coronal Mass Ejections
• Goal 2: CME evolves differently depending on the phase of the solar cycle– CME flattens as it moves out from the sun– Solar wind structure affects the evolution of the CME– CME launched during solar maximum is isotropic– CME launched during solar minimum has a strongly
varying azimuthal structure.
Way Forward
• Questions and Feedback?
• Review summer school materials and adjust tools and manuals accordingly
• Feedback to [email protected]
• Volunteers?