HR: 1330h
AN: SH53A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: 3D Sun Loop Tracer: A Tool for Stereoscopy of Coronal Loops for NASA's STEREO Mission
AU: * Liewer, P C
EM: paulett.liewer@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: DeJong, E M
EM: eric.m.dejong@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Hall, J R
EM: jeffrey.r.hall@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Lorre, J J
EM: Jean.J.Lorre@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Sheth, P
EM: sheth@caltech.edu
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 169-506, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: Stereoscopy and triangulation can be used to determine the three-dimensional geometry of coronal loops seen in simultaneous images from the two STEREO spacecraft. Here we demonstrate a new tool, 3D Sun Loop Tracer (SLT), which uses stereoscopy to determine the 3D structure of a loop that can be identified in both images. SLT proceeds in several stages. First, the user "seeds" the tool by selecting the same loop in the two images of a stereoscopic pair. Next, the tool uses loop tracing algorithms and triangulation techniques to obtain the three-dimensional (x,y,z) coordinates of points on the loop. The tool has been developed and tested using a physics-based synthetic 3D coronal model (K. Schrijver, private communication). The tool has been shown to produce accurate results for loop reconstruction over a wide range of stereoscopic separation angles. The goal is to use this tool to analyze the evolution and stored magnetic energy in loops observed by the EUV instruments on the STEREO spacecraft. Once the loops have been reconstructed in 3D, they can be compared to non-potential magnetic field line extrapolations. In the future, we plan to incorporate a magnetogram-based magnetic field model and implement a procedure for adjusting the parameters of the extrapolation to match the reconstructed loops. In this way, the evolution of the stored magnetic energy can be determined
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
DE: 7594 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly