Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Ariel Schabes November 2016 Remote Sensing in the Atmosphere

What is It? Satellite launched on February 11, 2010 On a 5 year mission, studying how the Sun’s magnetic field is generated, structured, and responsible for violent solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CME’s) and other space weather Placed at an inclined geosynchronous orbit allowing for nearly continuous communication with Earth High gain antennas rotate once each orbit following Earth’s rotation This highly specific orbit led to higher costs Orbit located at the edge of the Earth’s radiation belt Launch mass 3100kg Data sent to earth at ~130Mbps (Fios) 2-3 week eclipse period- sporadic signal loss

Important Terms Space Weather- radiation and highly charged particles ejected from the Sun in the form of plasma Solar Cycle- 11-year cycle, where the amount of sunspots increase and decrease (one full cycle 22 years) CME- eruption of millions of tons of charged particles from the Sun, moving from 200-2000 km/s, arrives at Earth typically after 2-3 days Solar flare- bright flash of X-rays seen during an explosion of an active region on the Sun, we can see a bright flash of white light Sunspot- areas appearing darker on the Sun due to emerging magnetic fields from the Corona (outer layer of the Sun) 447,000mph-4.5 million mph Greatly detrimental to satellites and any other electrical systems on earth Can cause city wide blackouts Quebec March 12,1989- no power for 12 hours Auroras seen as far south as Florida & Cuba

Start at 4:48 https://youtu.be/yEYy_nVC4L0?t=288

Instruments HMI (Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager) AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) EVE (Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment) Combined Functions: Measures the extreme ultraviolet spectral irradiance of the Sun at a rapid cadence Measures the Doppler shifts due to oscillation velocities over the entire visible disk Makes high-resolution measurements of the longitudinal and vector magnetic field over the entire visible disk Makes images of the chromosphere and inner corona at several temperatures at a rapid cadence Makes those measurements over a significant portion of a solar cycle to capture the solar variations that may exist in different time periods of a solar cycle

HMI (Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager) Studies oscillations and the magnetic field at the solar surface, or photosphere Observes the full solar disk at 6173 Å with a resolution of 1 arcsecond Provides 4 main types of data: dopplergrams (maps of solar surface velocity), continuum filtergrams (broad-wavelength photographs of the solar photosphere), and both line-of-sight and vector magnetograms (maps of the photospheric magnetic field) Stanford University

AIA (Atmospheric Imaging Assembly) Designed to provide an unprecedented view of the solar corona, data includes images of the Sun in 10 wavelengths every 10 seconds (193, 304, 171, 211 nm) Will produce data required for quantitative studies of the evolving coronal magnetic field, and the plasma that it holds, both in quiescent phases and during flares and eruptions http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/ 171 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/browse/ 94 http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/browse/ Composite http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/browse/

EVE (Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment) Measures the solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance with unprecedented spectral resolution, temporal cadence, and precision Measures the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral irradiance to understand variations on the timescales which influence Earth's climate and near-Earth space University of Colorado

Carrington Event: September 2, 1859 Massive solar storm slammed into Earth shorting out telegraph systems from the United States to Europe, also ignited widespread fires Three times more powerful than storm that cut power to Quebec, Canada in 1989 Auroras seen as far south as Cuba and Hawaii (18°W) Could cause $2 trillion in initial damages (Katrina $80-$125 billion in damage) 4-10 years for recovery SDO is the key to creating advanced warning Storm witnessed by British astronomer Richard Carrington 18-36 hours for particles to arrive form sun Atmosphere was so charged, people were able to communicate with power supplies disconnected Advanced warning allows for key power grids to switch off in preparation, satellites to be placed in sleep mode to minimize damage Carrington’s discovery opened the doors to space weather research

Questions? Thank You!!!

Sources http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/Earths-magneticfieldlines-dipole.html http://www.skyandtelescope.com/wp-content/uploads/Sun_diff_rotation_341px.jpg http://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/solar-cycle-sunspot-number.gif https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjgvGiEHlNs http://hmi.stanford.edu/ http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/eve/ http://www.space.com/7224-150-years-worst-solar-storm.html