HR: 1330h
AN: SP43B-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Kinetic Helicity in Solar Subsurface Layers and Flare Activity of Active Regions
AU: * Komm, R
EM: rkomm@nso.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
AU: Howe, R
EM: rhowe@nso.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
AU: Hill, F
EM: fhill@nso.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
AU: González Hernández, I
EM: irenegh@nso.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
AU: Toner, C G
EM: ctoner@nso.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719
AB: We search for a relation between subsurface flows below active regions and flare events occuring in those regions. For this purpose, we use a ring-diagram analysis to determine the subsurface flows from high-resolution Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) and Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) data and derive the kinetic helicity as a measure of the topology of the subsurface flows. We compare it with X-ray flare data from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). We study active regions in three Carrington rotations (CR~1982, 1988, and 2009), which represent different levels of flare activity. The maximum value of the unsigned kinetic helicity density associated with each active region correlates remarkably well with the total flare X-ray intensity of the active regions; active regions with strong flare activity show large values of kinetic helicity density in subsurface flows. This work has ben supported by NASA grant NAG 5-11703.
DE: 7500 SOLAR PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND ASTRONOMY
DE: 7519 Flares
DE: 7522 Helioseismology
SC: Solar Physics Division - AAS [SP]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly