Connecting coronal structure to photospheric origins

1. Connecting coronal structure to photospheric origins Active region (sunspot) evolution and solar rotation well define long term, persistent, coronal streamers This movie shows an idealized rotating coronal streamer. Looking above the limb persistent, stable structure should look like this in coronal observations

2. Coronal streamers are predictable In coronal xray or EUV observations the dominant structure is predictable with characteristics defined by photospheric rotation and the underlying solar active regions

3. Magnetic field inputs to space weather activity The Haleakala observatory is the worlds highest elevation solar observatory. It sits above 20% of the atmosphere and provides unrivaled infrared observing conditions. On a daily basis the high altitude Mees observatory on Haleakala provides the solar vector magnetic field measurements required to model and predict the evolving interplanetary field configuration. This image shows the vector field from a bipolar Active region (number 1731) on February 21, 2002

4. Coronal magnetic fields The future for space weather prediction depends on direct measurements of coronal magnetic fields. The infrared FeXIII line will allow this. Experimental determination of coronal field strength from Zeeman splitting has been obtained. Shortly the Haleakala observatory will provide these measurements for routine diagnostic use. This EUV image shows contours of coronal Green-line emission measured from the ground. The small box labeled A is a region where infrared Zeeman field observations were obtained (below) The infrared spectrum near 1000nm directly reveals the coronal magnetic field This line profile is one of the first measurements of a 30G coronal magnetic field