Detection and Characterization of the Photospheric and Coronal Magnetic Fields of Sunspot Groups: Implications for Flare Forecasting

Abstract : The effort included three science goals (SG) along with the development of the corresponding software. Specifically, the science goals were as follows: SG1 Characterizing the surface magnetic structure of active regions (ARs); SG2 Characterizing the coronal topology of ARs, and SG3 Characterizing the time dependent behavior of AR magnetic and coronal properties. Most of the targeted scientific goals were achieved, and software has been developed to automatically track ARs and to study the evolution of surface magnetic structures (including the detection of complex delta spots). The software is successfully tested with two years (20112012) data from NASA s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite. The algorithm automatically selects separate regions of a given AR (such as umbrae, penumbrae and quiet sun) and calculates different physical properties, such as: i) line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic flux of the entire AR; ii) LOS magnetic flux, area, and mean LOS magnetic field of the umbrae and penumbrae; iii) if a delta spot is found, the magnetic flux of delta forming spots in the AR; iv) strength and orientation of flows in the vicinity of the AR. This software is being tested in Space Weather Division of UK Met office, and will be implemented there. This was also used to analyze a large archival dataset to study the evolution of ARs and the connection to solar flares.