Ground-Based Solar Research An Assessment and Strategy for the Future (1998) / Chapter Skim
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2 Assessment of Current Approved Ground-based Solar Research Programs
2 Assessment of Current Approved Ground-based Solar Research Programs
Pages 15-33
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From page 15... ...
Provision of specialist-supported access to national observing facilities. NSO operates the two largest solar telescopes in the United States for groundbased solar observation- the Vacuum Tower Telescope at Sac Peak (commissioned in 1969)
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Probing the motions and magnetic fields of the Sun at the smallest scale allowed by atmospheric seeing, the Sacramento Peak Vacuum Tower Telescope (Sac Peak VTT) is the premier U.S.
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For example, taking advantage of the rapid increase of the Zeeman effect with Increasing wavelength facilitates the study of the structure of magnetic fields.3 In addition, as IR spectral lines come Tom a broad range of heights in the solar atmosphere, one can carry out studies of vector magnetic fields, temperature, arid atomic abundances from the visible surface to the base of the corona. For example, it has come to light in recent years that abundances of such elements as C, N
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Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigation of the Sun NSO/Kitt Peak full-disk magnetograms have been, and remain today, the cornerstone of modern solar physics. The magnetograms (with a sensitivity of about 4 Gauss per square arc-second)
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For example, active region vector magnetograms are recorded by several observatories outside the NSO, notably Mees Solar Observatory, San Fernando Observatory, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Big Bear Solar Observatory. In addition, the Wilcox Observatory specializes in lowresolution magnetograms that show the current sheet separating the northern and southern magnetic hemispheres of the Sun and large-scale surface velocity patterns.
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It was designed and built by the National Solar Observatory. The minimal PSPT network configuration is planned for sites at the Rome Astronomical Observatory, MLSO, and Sac Peak.
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MSO instruments study solar flares, magnetic fields on the Sun, and solar oscillations. Currently operating instruments at MSO are these: · Unaging Vector Magnetograph: maps the vector magnetic field in the solar photosphere.
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The ongoing research programs at the San Fernando Observatory fall into two main categories: the study of the evolution of magnetic fields in solar active regions and the study of the energy balance of active regions and its effect on solar irradiance. In contrast to the sites for other major solar observatories, the best observing weather in the San Fernando Valley comes in the summer months.
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WSO produces low-angular-resolution synoptic magnetograms and Sun-as-a-star magnetic field measurements. It is also a site in the US helioseismology network Major Solar Radio Observatories Solar radio observations are catTied out at three facilities in the United States: The Dequency-agile solar array at Owens Valley,~° which has good frequency coverage, but with limited imaging; the Very Large Array, which, when available for solar observations, has good imaging but limited frequency coverage; arid the Berkeley Illinois Maryland Association's millimeter-wave array.
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It is operated by the BIMA consortium, consisting of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley, the Laboratory for Astronomical Imaging of the University of Illinois, and the Laboratory for Millimeter Astronomy of the University of Maryland, with support from NSF. Use of these facilities has demonstrated the potential for using radio observations for flare diagnostics and mapping of magnetic fields, leading to the development of plans for a Frequency-Agile Solar Radio telescope (see Appendix E)
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The center's organization is similar to the NOAA Space Environment Center; however, HSTRC operates its own observing facilities. Scientists using the HSTRC conduct research in space weather forecasting, solar physics, and solar terrestrial physics.
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Teide Observatory This is a premier solar observing site on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, operated by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The observatory has attracted some of the best European solar telescopes and instruments, among them the Franco-Italian THEMIS (see below)
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Particularly noteworthy are observatories on the islands of Tenenfe and La Palma in the Canary Islands, which have attracted some of the best European solar telescopes and instruments, among them the Franco-Italian THEMIS, the German VTT, the Swedish VTT, and eight international instruments for solar seismology, with nodes of the most important helioseismological networks of all the world: GONG (United States of Amenca) , IRIS (France)
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These include, for example, NASA/Solar Data Analysis Center, NOAA/Space Environment Center, NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center, High Altitude Observatory, National Solar Observatory (which is now placing its entire synoptic database spanning the last three decades online)
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That is, science depends on being able to draw on a cntical-mass-size research community (people) who, in turn, i3The NASA Space Science Enterprise plans to establish a unified Space Science Data System (SSDS)
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carried out in university space science groups, NASA centers, Department of Defense research laboratories, and some corporate research facilities. However, histoncally strong, university-based research centers that carTy on ground-based solar research (for example, those at the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Colorado)
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To examine other portions of NSF funding for solar research the task group used NSF data to create a snapshot for FY 1 998. The total funding awarded for grants for solar research was $]
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. Box 2.1 shows that the total Ending for the two major national solar research facilities or centers sponsored by the NSF received funding at a level above the funding for grants specifically focused on solar research but below the total NSF grant Finding for solar and solar-related research.
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with NSF funding, or in institutes and universities that focus more on space-based projects, with only indirect attention to ground-based studies, through supporting research and technology contracts from NASA. Thus, for example, the Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Lockheed Martin Solar Research Laboratory, the Marshall Space Flight Center, and others reflect the changing funding patterns away from traditional NSF support, now significantly oriented to exploit and support space observations of the Sun.
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