SHINE: Separating the Dynamic and Quiescent Corona: A New Tool for the Detection and Analysis of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

The team will investigate the dynamic restructuring of the magnetic field and plasma within coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and background solar corona, as CME disturbances propagate and expand through the heliosphere. In this study, the Principal Investigator (PI) will exploit a recently developed technique which enables, for the first time, the isolation of a CME signal from the background corona in space-based and ground-based coronagraph images at fine resolution. By clearly separating the CME disturbance from ambient coronal plasma structures, the PI's team expects to determine the response of the coronal magnetic field and heliospheric plasma to such disturbances. Using this new method, the PI will greatly improve the detection and classification of CME events, from large CMEs down to faint plasma blobs at the level of instrumental noise, enabling a more detailed statistical study of CMEs. He will also be able to create 3D plasma density maps of the corona over a solar cycle, and such maps will be extremely useful for coronal modeling, for interpreting heliospheric plasma observations, and for direct study of the height of the corona and its temporal evolution. This investigation of the initiation and propagation of CMEs will increase our understanding of the fundamental properties of astrophysical shock development and propagation in general, and enable the development of predictive tools for when CME disturbances could have a significant impact on the Earth's space environment. The PI's online CME database will be made accessible to the public, with special sections designed for explaining to non-scientists the nature of CMEs and their potential impact on the Earth. The techniques developed here for CME separation and detection will be useful to the wider image processing community.