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A Coherence-Based Approach for Tracking Waves in the Solar Corona

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Abstract

We consider the problem of automatically (and robustly) isolating and extracting information about waves and oscillations observed in EUV image sequences of the solar corona with a view to near real-time application to data from the Atmospheric Imaging Array (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We find that a simple coherence/travel-time based approach detects and provides a wealth of information on transverse and longitudinal wave phenomena in the test sequences provided by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE). The results of the search are pruned (based on diagnostic errors) to minimize false-detections such that the remainder provides robust measurements of waves in the solar corona, with the calculated propagation speed allowing automated distinction between various wave modes. In this paper we discuss the technique, present results on the TRACE test sequences, and describe how our method can be used to automatically process the enormous flow of data (≈1 Tb day−1) that will be provided by SDO/AIA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO, 80307, USA

    Scott W. McIntosh & Steven Tomczyk

  2. Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab, 3251 Hanover St., Org. ADBS, Bldg. 252, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, USA

    Bart De Pontieu

Authors
  1. Scott W. McIntosh
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  2. Bart De Pontieu
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  3. Steven Tomczyk
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Correspondence to Scott W. McIntosh.

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McIntosh, S.W., De Pontieu, B. & Tomczyk, S. A Coherence-Based Approach for Tracking Waves in the Solar Corona. Sol Phys 252, 321–348 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-008-9257-x

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