Investigating the Rotation of Sunspots with the Solar Dynamics Observatory

这个项目的目的是研究太阳表面黑子的旋转。这种自转可以持续10天，是太阳内部磁场信息向大气层传递的可观测结果。储存在太阳大气中的多余能量可以通过太阳耀斑和日冕物质抛射等爆发释放出来，这可能会对地球上的我们产生影响。特别是，该项目将自动定位和跟踪太阳黑子，使太阳黑子的旋转可以很容易地计算出来。此外，这将提供有关活动区域内太阳黑子相对运动的信息，以确定额外的能量输入来源（如太阳黑子之间的剪切和其他磁足点运动），并确定主要的输入机制。自动化方法将针对已经手工生成的四个月的样本进行测试。一旦成功，将生成更大的统计样本以供科学利用（SDO拥有11年连续数据的存档，可以利用，尽管分析整个目录将是数据管理中的一项主要工作，因此将有针对性地仔细选择时间段）。该样本将用于测试太阳黑子旋转是否是为（大型）太阳喷发注入多余能量的关键机制，以及哪些其他机制可能对这一过程有重大贡献。该项目将主要使用来自美国宇航局太阳动力学观测站（SDO）的数据来识别太阳黑子及其旋转。SDO提供连续的、高分辨率的（在时间和空间上）观测太阳圆盘，在一系列光谱通过带中对应于太阳表面和大气层的不同层。然而，新的仪器将在博士期间上线，如欧空局的太阳轨道飞行器任务，这将在适当的时候被利用。

The aim of this project is to investigate the rotation of sunspots in the solar surface. These rotations, which can last for 10s of days, are an observable consequence of the transfer of magnetic information from the solar interior to the atmosphere. Excess energy stored in the solar atmosphere can be released through eruptions such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can impact us on the Earth.In particular, this project will automate the locating and tracking of sunspots so that sunspot rotations can easily be calculated. Additionally, this will provide information about the relative motions of sunspots within an active region to determine additional sources of energy input (such as shear between sunspots and other magnetic foot point motions) and identify the dominant input mechanisms.The automated approach will be tested against a four-month sample that has already been manually generated. Once this is successful, a larger statistical sample will be generated for scientific exploitation (SDO has an archive of 11 years of continuous data that can be exploited, though analysing the entire catalogue would be a major undertaking in data management, so carefully selected periods will be targeted). This sample will be used to test whether sunspot rotation is a key mechanism for injecting excess energy for (large) solar eruptions, and which other mechanisms may significantly contribute to this process.The project will primarily use data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to identify sunspots and their rotation. SDO provides continuous, high-resolution (in time and space) observations of the solar disk in a range of spectral pass bands that correspond to different layers of the Sun's surface and atmosphere. However, new instrumentation will come online during the PhD period, such as ESA's Solar Orbiter mission, and this will be exploited as appropriate.