RAPID: Preserving a Unique Archive for Long-Term Solar Variability Studies

RAPID：为长期太阳变率研究保留独特的档案

• 批准号: 1540544
• 负责人: David Webb
• 金额: $ 10.95万
• 依托单位: Boston College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-01 至 2017-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1540544&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Preserving; Unique; Archive; Long

This is a short-term (one-year) effort to preserve and digitize a set of hand-drawn charts going back more than 40 years of solar features identified from Hydrogen-alpha images of the Sun. They were defined in 1964 as a means to identify and track major magnetic structures on the surface of the Sun and their evolution. This was before modern measurements of solar magnetism were routinely available. They were produced consistently and continually through 2010 and have formed the basis for important discoveries about solar magnetic field and surface evolution. However, this valuable resource is now in imminent danger of being lost because the scientist in charge and his two assistants, who were trained by him and worked with him on the maps, have retired. They are the only people with intimate knowledge of the technique behind the charts. Furthermore, while much of the original data set has been saved in their homes, is has not otherwise been preserved in copies or in digital form. Nor is it protected from loss through flooding, fire, etc. The main purpose of this RAPID award is to ensure that the entire set of charts is organized, scanned and digitally processed using a consistent, machine-readable format, thus creating a readily accessible dataset that can be utilized scientifically for years to come. The two assistants will carry out the majority of the effort, in collaboration with solar physics scientist and experts in the scanning, digital processing and data archiving of scientific data. The final digitized, searchable maps will be archived at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. This set of synoptic maps constitutes a unique and significant observational resource on the evolution of large-scale solar features over the course of four solar cycles. Once digitized, they can be used to measure the proportions of the solar surface exhibiting specific phenomena, and the locations of these features as a function of latitude and longitude (as defined by pixel location). The data can then be used to evaluate the proportions and their changes over time. This will provide extremely useful information that can be used to test theories and models for predicting the Sun's activity as a whole over a single cycle or over numerous cycles. It will also be useful for a wealth of other studies concerning specific features at the Sun, such as filaments, coronal holes or plage regions, as well as their variations over time in terms of quantity, location or movement.

这是一个短期（一年）的努力，以保护和保存一套手绘图表，可以追溯到40多年前的太阳特征，这些特征是从太阳的氢α图像中识别出来的。 它们在1964年被定义为一种识别和跟踪太阳表面主要磁性结构及其演变的手段。 这是在现代太阳磁性测量常规可用之前。 它们在2010年持续不断地产生，并为有关太阳磁场和表面演化的重要发现奠定了基础。 然而，这一宝贵的资源现在面临着即将丢失的危险，因为负责的科学家和他的两名助手，谁是由他训练，并与他一起工作的地图，已经退休。 他们是唯一对图表背后的技术了如指掌的人。 此外，虽然许多原始数据集保存在家中，但没有以副本或数字形式保存。 这个RAPID奖项的主要目的是确保使用一致的机器可读格式组织，扫描和数字处理整个图表集，从而创建一个易于访问的数据集，可以在未来几年内科学地使用。 这两名助理将与太阳物理学科学家和科学数据扫描、数字处理和数据存档方面的专家合作，开展大部分工作。 最终的数字化，可搜索的地图将在NOAA的国家地球物理数据中心存档。 这套天气图是关于四个太阳活动周期过程中大尺度太阳特征演变的独特和重要的观测资源。一旦数字化，它们可以用来测量太阳表面表现出特定现象的比例，以及这些特征的位置作为纬度和经度的函数（由像素位置定义）。然后，这些数据可以用于评估比例及其随时间的变化。这将提供非常有用的信息，可用于测试预测太阳在单个周期或多个周期内整体活动的理论和模型。它还将有助于对太阳的其他一些具体特征进行大量的研究，如暗条、冕洞或斑区，以及它们在数量、位置或运动方面随时间的变化。