Research Highlights

We take a broad look at the problem of identifying the magnetic solar causes of space weather. The challenges are best met through a combination of near UV lines of bright Mg II, and lines of Fe II and Fe I (mostly within the 4s − 4p transition array) which form in the chromosphere up to 20,000 K.

The neutral winds in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region have been observed at King Sejong Station, Antarctica using a meteor radar and a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) simultaneously. These two independent MLT wind measurements are compared to each other to identify the characteristics of FPI measurement.

Kelvin waves are large scale wave that is important for Earth’s atmosphere. The Ultra-Fast Kelvin waves (UFKW) are a subset of the Kelvin waves that can propagate to the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) ~100km and above due to their high zonal phase speeds. 

The bulk of the emission from the plasma called "transition region" plasma originates from structures energetically connected both to the chromosphere and corona. This result resolves decades of debate and opens the door to measuring magnetic energy and its evolution in the corona using transition region emission lines.

Prompted by a recent paper by Dima and Schad, we re-consider the problem of inferring magnetic properties of the corona using polarimetric observations of magnetic dipole (M1) lines.

Dikpati, et. al., derive magnetic toroids from surface magnetograms by employing a novel optimization method based on Trust Region Reflective algorithm. 

A Case Study During a Minor Storm Period Under Solar Minimum Conditions: The dayside equatorial ionospheric electrodynamics exhibits strong variability driven simultaneously by highly changeable external forcings that originate from the Sun, magnetosphere, and lower atmosphere. 

In 2014 HAO built a polarimetric modulator for the CRISP instrument on the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope in La Palma, using the principles of polychromatic modulation previously developed by HAO scientists. This paper discusses the processes by which the modulator was designed, built, and tested. The modulator was installed and had been in use since 2015. It is working at close to optimal efficiency and has produced considerable scientific output.

Accurate models of the spatial structure of ionospheric magnetic fields in the daily variation (DV) band (periods of approximately a few hours to a day) would enable use of magneto-variational methods for three-dimensional imaging of upper mantle and transition zone electrical conductivity. Constraints on conductivity at these depths, below what is typically possible with magnetotellurics, would in turn provide valuable constraints on mantle hydration and Earth’s deep water cycle.