HR: 0830h
AN: SP51B-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Solar Wind Forecasting with the SOLIS-VSM
AU: * Robbins, S J
EM: sjr16@cwru.edu
AF: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Astronomy 10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106 United States
AU: Henney, C J
EM: chenney@noao.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 United States
AU: Harvey, J W
EM: jharvey@noao.edu
AF: National Solar Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 United States
AB: A web based solar wind forecasting resource applying a simple empirical model with SOLIS-VSM (Vector Spectromagnetograph) data is presented here. The solar wind empirical model uses the locations of coronal holes on the observed solar disk to forecast an estimated solar wind velocity at Earth. The model coefficients are estimated minimizing the difference between 10+ years of coronal hole images and the corresponding measured solar wind velocities. The coronal hole training data set was derived from Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope (KPVT) He I 1083 nm images and photospheric magnetograms. The model can forecast up to 8.5 days in advance. The VSM estimated coronal hole images are derived from daily full-disk photospheric magnetograms and He I 1083 nm spectroheliograms using an automated coronal hole detection algorithm. Daily solar wind forecasts are planned to be automated using SOLIS-VSM data and made available publicly during the year 2005. The coronal hole data used here was compiled by K. Harvey and F. Recely using National Solar Observatory (NSO) KPVT observations under a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Solar wind data utilized for this project is provided on the Internet at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/omniweb/.ÿ This work is carried out through the NSO Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) site program, which is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the National Science Foundation REU Program.ÿ This research was supported in part by the Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1040. The NSO is operated by AURA, Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the NSF.
DE: 2134 Interplanetary magnetic fields
DE: 2169 Sources of the solar wind
DE: 7511 Coronal holes
DE: 7594 Instruments and techniques
SC: Solar Physics Division - AAS [SP]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly