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Reviewing the Summer School Solar Labs

Reviewing the Summer School Solar Labs. Nicholas Gross. Background. Target Audience is 1 st year graduate students Excellent set of activities using research quality materials Developed independently with little coordination Sequencing sometimes rough Developed on multiple platforms.

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Reviewing the Summer School Solar Labs

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  1. Reviewing the Summer School Solar Labs Nicholas Gross

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. Lab 2: Structure of Near Solar Magnetic Field • 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 stillseparated by a current sheet • Solar Max Current sheet is far more complicated

  10. 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.

  11. 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

  12. 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.

  13. Lab 3: Sources of the Solar Wind

  14. 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.

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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.

  20. 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.

  21. Way Forward • Questions and Feedback? • Review summer school materials and adjust tools and manuals accordingly • Feedback to gross@bu.edu • Volunteers?

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