基于机器学习的日冕仪图像分类方法研究

日冕物质抛射(Coronal Mass Ejection, CME)的检测是建立CME事件库和实现对CME在行星际传播的预报的重要前提. 通过Visual Geometry Group (VGG) 16卷积神经网络方法对日冕仪图像进行自动分类. 基于大角度光谱日冕仪(Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment, LASCO) C2的白光日冕仪图像, 根据是否观测到CME对图像进行标记. 将标记分类的数据集用于VGG模型的训练, 该模型在测试集分类的准确率达到92.5%. 根据检测得到的标签结果, 结合时空连续性规则, 消除了误判区域, 有效分类出CME图像序列. 与Coordinated Data Analysis Workshops (CDAW)人工事件库比较, 分类出的CME图像序列能够较完整地包含CME事件, 且对弱CME结构有较高的检测灵敏度. 未来先进天基太阳天文台(Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory, ASO-S)卫星的莱曼阿尔法太阳望远镜将搭载有白光日冕仪(Solar Corona Imager, SCI), 使用此分类方法将该仪器产生的日冕图像按有无CME分类. 含CME标签的图像将推送给中国的各空间天气预报中心, 对CME进行预警.     

投影改正后CME的速度分布

目前观测的CME(日冕物质抛射)是其在天空平面的投影,这就导致CME的观测参量与真实参量之间存在一定的差异,比如说观测到的CME速度一般要比CME的真实速度小.运用基于锥状模型对CME的速度进行投影改正的方法,分析1996年9月到2007年9月(将近1个活动周)SOHO/LASCO日冕仪观测到的1 691个仅与耀斑相关的CME(简称FL类CME)和610个仅与暗条爆发相关的CME(简称FE类CME)投影改正前后的速度分布,得到如下结果:(1)投影改正前后,FL类CME和FE类CME的速度分布非常相似.且投影改正前后,两类CME的平均速度几乎相同; (2)投影改正前后,FL类CME和FE类CME速度的自然对数分布也非常相似.     

Tracking of Coronal White-Light Events by Texture

The extraction of the kinematic properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from white-light coronagraph images involves a significant degree of user interaction: defining the edge of the event, separating the core from the front or from nearby unrelated structures, etc. To contribute towards a less subjective and more quantitative definition, and therefore better kinematic characterization of such events, we have developed a novel image-processing technique based on the concept of “texture of the event”. The texture is defined by the so-called gray-level co-occurrence matrix, and the technique consists of a supervised segmentation algorithm to isolate a particular region of interest based upon its similarity with a pre-specified model. Once the event is visually defined early in its evolution, it is possible to automatically track the event by applying the segmentation algorithm to the corresponding time series of coronagraph images. In this paper we describe the technique, present some examples, and show how the coronal background, the core of the event, and even the associated shock (if one exists) can be identified for different kind of CMEs detected by the LASCO and SECCHI coronagraphs.     

The Radiometric and Pointing Calibration of SECCHI COR1 on STEREO

COR1 is the innermost coronagraph of the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instrument suite aboard the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The paired COR1 telescopes observe the white-light K-corona from 1.4 to 4 solar radii in a waveband 22.5 nm wide centered on the Hα line at 656 nm. An internal polarizer allows the measurement of both total and polarized brightness. The co-alignment of the two COR1 telescopes is derived from the star λ Aquarii for the Ahead spacecraft, and from an occultation of the Sun by the Moon for Behind. Observations of the planet Jupiter are used to establish absolute photometric calibrations for each telescope. The intercalibration of the two COR1 telescopes are compared using coronal mass ejection observations made early in the mission, when the spacecraft were close together. Comparisons are also made with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C2 and Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Mk4 coronagraphs.     

Intercomparison of the LASCO-C2, SECCHI-COR1, SECCHI-COR2, and Mk4 Coronagraphs

In order to assess the reliability and consistency of white-light coronagraph measurements, we report on quantitative comparisons between polarized brightness [pB] and total brightness [B] images taken by the following white-light coronagraphs: LASCO-C2 on SOHO, SECCHI-COR1 and -COR2 on STEREO, and the ground-based MLSO-Mk4. The data for this comparison were taken on 16?April 2007, when both STEREO spacecraft were within 3.1^° of Earth??s heliographic longitude, affording essentially the same view of the Sun for all of the instruments. Due to the difficulties of estimating stray-light backgrounds in COR1 and COR2, only Mk4 and C2 produce reliable coronal-hole values (but not at overlapping heights), and these cannot be validated without rocket flights or ground-based eclipse measurements. Generally, the agreement between all of the instruments?? pB values is within the uncertainties in bright streamer structures, implying that measurements of bright CMEs also should be trustworthy. Dominant sources of uncertainty and stray light are discussed, as is the design of future coronagraphs from the perspective of the experiences with these instruments.     

The Association of Solar Flares with Coronal Mass Ejections During the Extended Solar Minimum

We study the association of solar flares with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during the deep, extended solar minimum of 2007?–?2009, using extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and white-light (coronagraph) images from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). Although all of the fast (v>900 km?s^?1), wide (θ>100^°) CMEs are associated with a flare that is at least identified in GOES soft X-ray light curves, a majority of flares with relatively high X-ray intensity for the deep solar minimum (e.g. ?1×10^?6 W?m^?2 or C1) are not associated with CMEs. Intense flares tend to occur in active regions with a strong and complex photospheric magnetic field, but the active regions that produce CME-associated flares tend to be small, including those that have no sunspots and therefore no NOAA active-region numbers. Other factors on scales similar to and larger than active regions seem to exist that contribute to the association of flares with CMEs. We find the possible low coronal signatures of CMEs, namely eruptions, dimmings, EUV waves, and Type III bursts, in 91 %, 74 %, 57 %, and 74 %, respectively, of the 35 flares that we associate with CMEs. None of these observables can fully replace direct observations of CMEs by coronagraphs.     

Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Two Solar Coronal Mass Ejections Using the STEREO Spacecraft

Previous attempts to produce three-dimensional (3-D) reconstructions of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have required either modeling efforts or comparisons with secondary associated eruptions near the solar surface. This is because coronagraphs are only able to produce sky-plane-projected images of CMEs and it has hence been impossible to overcome projection effects by using coronagraphs alone. The SECCHI suite aboard the twin STEREO spacecraft allows us to provide the means for 3-D reconstruction of CMEs directly from coronagraph measurements alone for the first time. We present these measurements from two CMEs observed in November 2007. By identifying common features observed simultaneously with the LASCO coronagraphs aboard SOHO and the COR coronagraphs aboard STEREO we have triangulated the source region of both CMEs. We present the geometrical analysis required for this triangulation and identify the location of the CME in solar-meridional, ecliptic, and Carrington coordinates. None of the two events were associated with an easily detectable solar surface eruption, so this triangulation technique is the only means by which the source location of these CMEs could be identified. We present evidence that both CMEs originated from the same magnetic structure on the Sun, but from a different magnetic field configuration. Our results reveal some insight into the evolution of the high corona magnetic field, including its behavior over time scales of a few days and its reconfiguration after a major eruption.     

Why are halo coronal mass ejections faster?

Halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have been to be significantly faster than normal CMEs, which is a long-standing puzzle. In order to solve the puzzle, we first investigate the observed properties of 31 limb CMEs that clearly display loopshaped frontal loops. The observational results show a strong tendency that slower CMEs are weaker in white-light intensity. Then, we perform a Monte Carlo simulation of 20000 artificial limb CMEs that have an average velocity of ～523km s -1. The Thomson scattering of thes...     

EUV and coronagraphic observations of coronal mass ejections

The Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) and Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) onboard Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) provide us with unprecedented multi-wavelength observations helping us to understand different dynamic phenomena on the Sun and in the corona. In this paper we discuss the association between post-eruptive arcades (PEAs) detected by EIT and white-light coronal mass ejections (CMEs) detected by LASCO/C2 telescope.     

Kinetic properties of coronal mass ejections corrected for the projection effect in Cycle 23

Using Howard et al.'s method, we investigate, before and after the projection correction, the speed and acceleration distributions for 1747 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated solely with flares (FL CMEs) and 631 CMEs associated solely with filament eruptions (FE CMEs) observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph on board the Solar and Heliographic Observatory ( SOHO /LASCO) from 1996 September to 2007 September, corresponding to almost an entire solar cycle. The results show the following. (1) Before the correction, the speed distributions for FL and FE CMEs are statistically different from each other; after the correction, the speed distributions for FL and FE CMEs should also be statistically different from each other. (2) Before the correction, the acceleration distributions for FL and FE CMEs are statistically different from each other. However, after the correction, FL and FE CMEs should have quite similar acceleration distributions.     

平场数据采集间隔对莱曼阿尔法太阳望远镜平场精度的影响分析

莱曼阿尔法太阳望远镜(LST)是先进天基太阳天文台(ASO-S)卫星的载荷之一,它包括白光太阳望远镜(WST),全日面太阳成像仪(SDI)和日冕仪(SCI)等仪器. 1991年Kuhn, Lin和Loranz提出的方法(简称KLL方法)是WST和SDI在轨平场定标的方法之一.为了研究WST和SDI的平场定标精度对KLL方法的相邻位置时间间隔的敏感性,使用太阳动力学观测卫星(SDO)的日震和磁成像仪(HMI)及太阳大气成像仪(AIA)的全日面成像观测数据测试和分析在使用KLL方法时相邻位置时间间隔对所得平场精度的影响.结果显示在LST使用KLL方法进行平场定标时,相邻位置时间间隔越短越好.具体分析表明,WST平场精度对相邻位置采样时间间隔不敏感,而SDI时间间隔需要在240 s范围内.分析结果对卫星姿态调整到稳定所需的时间给出了一定限制.     

CME速度的投影效应改正方法

目前观测得到的日冕物质抛射(coronal mass ejection,CME)只是其在天空平面的投影,其观测参量与真实参量之间存在一定的差异.而CME的速度是对其地磁效应有决定性影响的参量,因此对CME测量速度作投影效应改正是一个重要的研究课题.综述了近年来对CME测量速度进行投影效应改正的方法,并指出了这些投影效应改正方法中存在的一些问题和进一步的研究方向.     

Numerical simulations of fast and slow coronal mass ejections

Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) show a large variety in their kinematic properties. CMEs originating in active regions and accompanied by strong flares are usually faster and accelerated more impulsively than CMEs associated with filament eruptions outside active regions and weak flares. It has been proposed more than two decades ago that there are two separate types of CMEs, fast (impulsive) CMEs and slow (gradual) CMEs. However, this concept may not be valid, since the large data sets acquired in recent years do not show two distinct peaks in the CME velocity distribution and reveal that both fast and slow CMEs can be accompanied by both weak and strong flares. We present numerical simulations which confirm our earlier analytical result that a flux‐rope CME model permits describing fast and slow CMEs in a unified manner. We consider a force‐free coronal magnetic flux rope embedded in the potential field of model bipolar and quadrupolar active regions. The eruption is driven by the torus instability which occurs if the field overlying the flux rope decreases sufficiently rapidly with height. The acceleration profile depends on the steepness of this field decrease, corresponding to fast CMEs for rapid decrease, as is typical of active regions, and to slow CMEs for gentle decrease, as is typical of the quiet Sun. Complex (quadrupolar) active regions lead to the fastest CMEs. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Evolution of CME Mass in the Corona

The idea that coronal mass ejections (CMEs) pile up mass in their transport through the corona and heliosphere is widely accepted. However, it has not been shown that this is the case. We perform an initial study of the volume electron density of the fronts of 13 three-part CMEs with well-defined frontal boundaries observed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph (SOHO/LASCO) white-light coronagraphs. We find that, in all cases, the volume electron density decreases as the CMEs travel through the LASCO-C2 and -C3 fields of view, from \(2.6\,\mbox{--}\,30~\mbox{R}_{\odot}\). The density decrease follows closely a power law with an exponent of ?3, which is consistent with a simple radial expansion. This indicates that in this height regime there is no observed pile-up.     

Velocity Distribution of CMEs After Projection Correction

The observed CME (coronal mass ejection) is its projection on the sky plane, and this leads to certain discrepancies between the observational and true parameters of the CME. For example, the observed velocity is generally smaller than the true velocity. The method of making projection correction for the CME velocity based on the conical model is utilized to analyze the velocity distributions of the 1691 CMEs which are only correlated to flares (called the class FL CMEs for short) and the 610 CMEs which are only correlated to filament eruptions (called the class FE CMEs for short) before and after the projection correction. These CMEs were observed with the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronograph on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory from September 1996 to September 2007 (close to a solar cycle). The obtained results are as follows: (1) before and after the projection correction the velocity distribution of FL CMEs is quite similar to that of FE CMEs, and before and after the projection correction the mean velocities of the two classes of CMEs are almost the same; (2) before and after the projection correction, the natural logarithm distribution of the FL CME velocities is also very similar to that of the FE CME velocities.     

Statistical Analysis of Decimetric Radio Bursts,Flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections

A statistical analysis of decimetric radio bursts (RBs), X-ray flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is carried out. We consider all radio bursts recorded by the Cracow Solar Radio Telescope from the beginning of 1996 until the end of 2004. It is found that the decimetric radio bursts are associated and strongly correlated with X-ray flares. Correlation coefficients between RBs durations and the maximal fluxes of the radio bursts and flares are found to be 0.60 and 0.87, respectively. We also demonstrated that a significant population of the decimetric radio bursts are associated with CMEs. The correlation coefficient between the maximal radio flux density multiplied by the duration of the RBs versus velocity multiplied by width of CMEs is found to be 0.55.     

On distribution of CMEs speed in solar cycle 23

We have analyzed the data for more than 12900 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which were obtained by SOHO/LASCO during the period of 1996-2007. The online CME catalogue contains all major CMEs detected by LASCO C2 and C3 coronagraphs. Basically we determine the CME speeds from the linear and quadratic fits to the height-time measurements. It is found that linear (constant speed) fit is preferable for 90% of the CMEs. The distribution of speeds of CMEs in solar cycle 23 is presented along with those obtained by others. As expected, the speeds decrease in the decay phase of the cycle 23. There is an unusual drop in speed in the year 2001 and an abnormal increase in speed in the year 2003 due to the high concentration of CMEs, X-class soft X-ray flares, solar energetic particle (SEP) events and interplanetary shocks observed during October-November period called Halloween events.     

Polarization Calibration of the Solar Optical Telescope onboard Hinode

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard Hinode aims to obtain vector magnetic fields on the Sun through precise spectropolarimetry of solar spectral lines with a spatial resolution of 0.2 – 0.3 arcsec. A photometric accuracy of 10⁻³ is achieved and, after the polarization calibration, any artificial polarization from crosstalk among Stokes parameters is required to be suppressed below the level of the statistical noise over the SOT’s field of view. This goal was achieved by the highly optimized design of the SOT as a polarimeter, extensive analyses and testing of optical elements, and an end-to-end calibration test of the entire system. In this paper we review both the approach adopted to realize the high-precision polarimeter of the SOT and its final polarization characteristics.