Magnetic Variations Associated With Solar Flares

A report summarizes an investigation of helioseismic waves and magnetic variations associated with solar flares, involving analysis of data acquired by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aboard the Solar and Heliocentric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, the Yohkoh spacecraft, and the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft. Reconstruction of x-ray flare images from RHESSI data and comparison of them with MDI magnetic maps were performed in an attempt to infer the changes in the geometry of the magnetic field. It was established that in most flares observed with MDI, downward propagating shocks were much weaker than was one observed in the July 9, 1996 flare, which caused a strong helioseismic response. It was concluded that most of the observed impulsive variations result from direct impact of high-energy particles. Computer codes were developed for further study of these phenomena.

This work was done by Vahe Petrosian of Stanford University for Goddard Space Flight Center. For further information, access the Technical Support Package (TSP) free on-line at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Physical Sciences category.