Operation and Application of High-Resolution Full-Disk Global Halpha Network

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The Principal Investigator (PI) has assembled an international collaboration to operate a high resolution, full-disk, global H-alpha telescope network (GHN), to monitor solar activity round-the-clock. A prior NSF award in 2000 allowed the network to include three stations in the United States, China, and Austria. This effort will continue that collaboration and extend the network to seven stations without additional cost. These seven stations are at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in the United States, Kanzelhöhe Solar Observatory (KSO) in Austria, Meudon Observatory and Pic-du-Midi Observatory in France, Yunnan Astronomical Observatory (YNAO) and Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS) in China, and Catania Astrophysical Observatory (CAO) in Italy. The PI's team will continue to operate GHN in order to provide valuable data to the solar-terrestrial community and to carry out research programs on solar filaments, flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). GHN will be complementary to the operation of a number of NASA missions, such as Hinode (Solar-B), STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), and SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory). The PI will also investigate the important role of magnetic reconnection in large scale solar eruptions that travel through the corona and into interplanetary space.The international aspect of GHN is important for improving global space weather observations and forecasts. This project will support a number of Ph.D. students who are using GHN data for their thesis work. An undergraduate student will participate in BBSO observations during the summer and carry out research during the academic year. GHN data processing uses artificial intelligence techniques developed within a multidisciplinary collaboration among students and faculty working in solar physics, computer sciences, and mathematics.