Solar flares occur due to the sudden release of energy stored in active-region magnetic fields. To date, the pre-cursors to flaring are still not fully understood, although there is evidence that flaring is related to changes in the topology or complexity of an active region's magnetic field. Here, the evolution of the magnetic field in active region NOAA 10953 was examined using Hinode/SOT-SP data, over a period of 12 hours leading up to and after a GOES B1.0 flare. A number of magnetic-field properties and low-order aspects of magnetic-field topology were extracted from two flux regions that exhibited increased Ca II H emission during the flare. Pre-flare increases in vertical field strength, vertical current density, and inclination angle of ~ 8degrees towards the vertical were observed in flux elements surrounding the primary sunspot. The vertical field strength and current density subsequently decreased in the post-flare state, with the inclination becoming more horizontal by ~7degrees. This behaviour of the field vector may provide a physical basis for future flare forecasting efforts.
We analyze sunspots rotation and magnetic transients in NOAA AR 11429 during two X-class (X5.4 and X1.3) flares using the data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the \emph{Solar Dynamics Observatory}. A large leading sunspot with positive magnetic polarity rotated counterclockwise. As expected, the rotation was significantly affected by the two flares. The magnetic transients induced by the flares were clearly evident in the sunspots with negative polarity. They were moving across the sunspots with speed of order $3-7\ \rm km \ s^{-1}$. Furthermore, the trend of magnetic flux e…
In this Letter, we give a detailed analysis to the M3.3 class flare that occurred on August 17, 2013 (SOL2013-08-17T18:16). It presents a clear picture of mutual magnetic interaction initially from the photosphere to the corona via the abrupt rapid shearing motion of a small sunspot before the flare, and then suddenly from the corona back to the photosphere via the sudden retraction motion of the same sunspot during the flare impulsive phase. About 10 hours before the flare, a small sunspot in the active region NOAA 11818 started to move northeast along a magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL)…
We present a clear case study on the occurrence of two successive X-class flares including a decade-class flare (X9.3) and two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) triggered by shearing motion and sunspot rotation in active region NOAA 12673 on 2017 September 6. A shearing motion between the main sunspots with opposite polarities started on September 5 and even lasted after the second X-class flare on September 6. Moreover, the main sunspot with negative polarity rotated around its umbral center and another main sunspot with positive polarity also exhibited a slow rotation. The sunspot with negative …
We describe a new tool developed for solar flare forecasting on the base of some sunspot group properties. Assuming that the flare frequency follows the Poisson statistics, this tool uses a database containing the morphological characteristics of the suspot groups daily observed by the Equatorial Spar of INAF $-$ Catania Astrophysical Observatory since January 2002 up today. By means of a linear combination of the flare rates computed on the base of some properties of the sunspot groups, like area, number of pores and sunspots, Zurich class, relative importance between leading spot and density…
Many previous studies have shown that magnetic fields as well as sunspot structures present rapid and irreversible changes associated with solar flares. In this paper we first use five X-class flares observed by SDO/HMI to show that not only the magnetic fields and sunspot structures do show rapid, irreversible changes but also these changes are closely related, both spatially and temporally. The magnitudes of the correlation coefficients between the temporal variations of horizontal magnetic field and sunspot intensity are all larger than 0.90, with a maximum value of 0.99 and an average valu…
We investigate the restructuring of the magnetic field in sunspots associated with two flares: the X6.5 flare on 6 December 2006 and the X2.2 flare on 15 February 2011. The observed changes were evaluated with respect to the so-called twist-removal model, in which helicity (twist) is removed from the corona as the result of an eruption. Since no vector magnetograms were available for the X6.5 flare, we applied the azimuthal symmetry approach to line-of-sight magnetograms to reconstruct the pseudo-vector magnetic field and investigate the changes in average twist and inclination of magnetic fie…
Solar flares are known to generate seismic waves in the Sun. We present a detailed analysis of seismic emission in sunspots accompanying M- and X-class solar flares. For this purpose, we have used high-resolution Dopplergrams and line-of-sight magnetograms at a cadence of 45 s, along with vector magnetograms at a cadence of 135 s obtained from Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument aboard the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) space mission. In order to identify the location of flare ribbons and hard X-ray foot-points, we have also used H-alpha chromospheric intensity observations obta…
Sunspots are concentrations of magnetic field visible on the solar surface (photosphere). It was considered implausible that solar flares, as resulted from magnetic reconnection in the tenuous corona, would cause a direct perturbation of the dense photosphere involving bulk motion. Here we report the sudden flare-induced rotation of a sunspot using the unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution of the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope, supplemented by magnetic data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. It is clearly observed that the rotation is non-uniform over the sunspot: as the flare ribbon sweeps acr…
In this paper, we report our first-step results of high resolution He\,\textsc{i} 10830 Å narrow-band imaging (bandpass: 0.5 Å) of an M1.8 class two-ribbon flare on July 5, 2012. The flare was observed with the 1.6 meter aperture New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory. For this unique data set, sunspot dynamics during flaring were analyzed for the first time. By directly imaging the upper chromosphere, running penumbral waves are clearly seen as an outward extension of umbral flashes, both take the form of absorption in the 10830 Å narrow-band images. From a space-time image made of…
Most solar flares originate in sunspot groups, where magnetic field changes lead to energy build-up and release. However, few flare-forecasting methods use information of sunspot-group evolution, instead focusing on static point-in-time observations. Here, a new forecast method is presented based upon the 24-hr evolution in McIntosh classification of sunspot groups. Evolution-dependent $\geqslant$C1.0 and $\geqslant$M1.0 flaring rates are found from NOAA-numbered sunspot groups over December 1988 to June 1996 (Solar Cycle 22; SC22) before converting to probabilities assuming Poisson statistics…
This paper develops a planetary model to predict the occurrence of intermediate range periodicity in solar activity, in particular the ~155 day Rieger periodicity in flare activity. It is shown that periodicity at half integer multiples of the period of Mercury occurs consistently in indices of solar activity. For this reason the planetary model is based on the triggering of sunspot emergence when planetary tides peak at times of conjunction of Mercury with Venus, Earth and/or Jupiter. The periodicity of components in the planetary model match reasonably well the observed intermediate periodic…
In this paper, we present the multi-wavelength study of a high level of solar activity during which a single active region produced multiple flares/CMEs. According to the sunspot observations, the current solar cycle 24 manifest to be less intense in comparison with the previous recent sunspot cycles. In the course of the current sunspot cycle 24, several small and large sunspot groups have produced various moderate and intense flare/CME events. There are a few active regions with a large number of flaring activities passed across the visible disk of the Sun during 2012-2015. In this study, we…
A moderate C1.1 class confined flare is investigated here, which occurred on 2013 September 24 at 22:56~UT, in an arch filament system close to a regular, unipolar sunspot. Spectro-polarimetric observations from the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter at the 70 cm German Vacuum Tower Telescope were combined with data from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly to identify the processes that triggered the flare. The legs of this arch filament were anchored in the leading sunspot and the network flux region of opposite polarity. The flare was driven by small-scale, flux …
Sudden Photospheric Motion and Sunspot Rotation Associated with the X2.2 Flare on 2011 February 15
日震和磁成像仪提供45秒的节奏强度图像和720秒的节奏矢量磁图。这些前所未有的高节奏和高分辨率数据为我们提供了一个独特的机会来研究与耀斑相关的光球流和太阳黑子旋转的变化。分别采用微分仿射速度估计方法和傅立叶局部相关跟踪方法，计算了2011年2月15日NOAA AR 11158耀斑期间光球流的速度和涡度，并研究了X2. 2耀斑前后光球流的时间演化.结果表明，在耀斑的脉冲阶段，耀斑磁极性反转线附近的剪切流突然减小，两个主黑子的自转运动都发生了突变。这些结果在Hudson等人（2008）和Fisher等人（2012）提出的洛伦兹力变化的背景下进行了讨论。这一机制可以解释光球矢量磁场的快速不可逆变化与观测到的耀斑短期运动之间的联系。特别地，由水平洛伦兹力变化提供的扭矩与所测量的角加速度所需的一致。
Studies on the periodic variation and the phase relationship between different solar activity indicators are useful for understanding the long-term evolution of solar activity cycle. Here we report the statistical analysis of grouped solar flare (GSF) and sunspot number (SN) during the time interval from January 1965 to March 2009. We find that, 1) the significant periodicities of both GSF and SN are related to the differential rotation periodicity, the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and the eleven-year Schwabe cycle (ESC), but the specific values are not absolutely identical; 2) the ESC si…
The newly revised sunspot number series allows for placing historical geoeffective storms in the context of several hundred years of solar activity. Using statistical analyses of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) X-ray observations from the past ~30 years and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) catalog (1996-present), we present sunspot-number-dependent flare and CME rates. In particular, we present X-ray flare rates as a function of sunspot number for the past three cycles. We a…
Solar active regions (ARs) that produce strong flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are known to have a relatively high non-potentiality and are characterized by delta-sunspots and sheared magnetic structures. In this study, we conduct a series of flux emergence simulations from the convection zone to the corona and model four types of active regions that have been observationally suggested to cause strong flares, namely the Spot-Spot, Spot-Satellite, Quadrupole, and Inter-AR cases. As a result, we confirm that delta-spot formation is due to the complex geometry and interaction of emerging…
With the high-resolution data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, we detect a light wall above a sunspot light bridge in the NOAA active region (AR) 12403. In the 1330 A slit-jaw images, the light wall is brighter than the ambient areas while the wall top and base are much brighter than the wall body, and it keeps oscillating above the light bridge. A C8.0 flare caused by a filament activation occurred in this AR with the peak at 02:52 UT on 2015 August 28, and the flare's one ribbon overlapped the light bridge which was the observational base of the light wall. Consequently, the o…
We investigate the properties of a sunspot light-bridge, focusing on the changes produced by the impact of a plasma blob ejected from a C-class flare. We observed a sunspot in active region NOAA 12544 using spectropolarimetric raster maps of the four Fe I lines around 15655 Å with the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS), narrow-band intensity images sampling the Fe I 6173 Å line with the GREGOR Fabry-Pérot Interferometer (GFPI), and intensity broad band images in G-band and Ca II H band with the High-resolution Fast Imager (HiFI). All these instruments are located at the GREGOR telescope at th…
In this paper, we present a multi-wavelength analysis of two X-class solar eruptive flares of classes X2.2 and X9.3 that occurred in the sigmoidal active region NOAA 12673 on 2017 September 6, by combining observations of Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. On the day of the reported activity, the photospheric structure of the active region displayed a very complex network of $δ$-sunspots that gave rise to the formation of a coronal sigmoid observed in the hot EUV channels. Both X-class flares initiated from the cor…
Multiwavelength Study of M8.9/3B Solar Flare from AR NOAA 10960
本文对2007年6月4日发生在NOAA AR 10960上的一次长时间白光太阳耀斑（M8.9/3B）事件进行了多波长分析。这次耀斑是由SOHO/MDI、Hinode/SOT、TRACE和STEREO/SECCHI等几种星载仪器观测到的。耀斑是在AR中心的一个小的正极性卫星黑子附近开始的，周围是相反极性的场区。AR的MDI图像显示了在耀斑事件期间三角洲配置的小正极性太阳黑子的相当大的变化量。太阳黑子的SOT/G波段（4305 A）图像还表明，在耀斑事件之前，正极性太阳黑子的快速演化具有高度扭曲的半影细丝，这些细丝是逆时针方向的。它显示了在耀斑的衰变阶段，方向的变化，扭曲的半影丝（~35-40%）和本影区（~45-50%）的增强也显着消失。TRACE和SECCHI观测揭示了与该黑子相关的两个螺旋扭曲结构的连续激活，以及SOT/Ca II H线（3968 A）的时间序列图像所观察到的色球层中相应的增亮。发现次级螺旋扭曲结构与8.9级耀斑事件有关。增亮开始于耀斑极大值出现前6-7 min，出现次级螺旋扭曲结构。耀斑强度随着该结构远离AR而最大化。这种与耀斑触发有关的扭曲磁通管，被发现在喷发中失败了。耀斑的位置被发现与螺旋扭曲结构的激活位点相吻合。我们的结论是，激活连续的螺旋扭曲的磁通量管/绳起着至关重要的作用，在能量积累过程和触发的M级太阳耀斑没有一个CME。
Rieger et al (1984) reported observations of a 154 day periodicity in flares during solar cycle 21. This paper discusses the observations in the light of a simple empirical planetary model of sunspot emergence. The planetary model predicts sunspot emergence when Mercury and Earth approach conjunction and Mercury approaches the Sun. We show that the reported times of flare activity are coherent with the planetary model. While the base period of the model is 170 days, the average model period, over the interval of flare recordings, is 157 days due to a 180 degree phase change in the planetary fo…
Waiting time distributions of solar flares and {\sl coronal mass ejections (CMEs)} exhibit power law-like distribution functions with slopes in the range of $α_τ \approx 1.4-3.2$, as observed in annual data sets during 4 solar cycles (1974-2012). We find a close correlation between the waiting time power law slope $α_τ$ and the {\sl sunspot number (SN)}, i.e., $α_τ$ = 1.38 + 0.01 $\times$ SN. The waiting time distribution can be fitted with a Pareto-type function of the form $N(τ) = N_0$ $(τ_0 + τ)^{-α_τ}$, where the offset $τ_0$ depends on the instrumental sensitivity, the detection threshold…
Solar Active Region (AR) 12673 is the most flare productive AR in the solar cycle 24. It produced four X-class flares including the X9.3 flare on 06 September 2017 and the X8.2 limb event on 10 September. Sun and Norton (2017) reported that this region had an unusual high rate of flux emergence, while Huang et al. (2018) reported that the X9.3 flare had extremely strong white-light flare emissions. Yang at al. (2017) described the detailed morphological evolution of this AR. In this report, we focus on usual behaviors of the light bridge (LB) dividing the delta configuration of this AR, namely…
We observed a C-class flare at the outer boundary of the super-penumbra of a sunspot. The flare was triggered by an emerging magnetic bipolar region that was obliquely oriented with respect to the super-penumbral fibrils. The flare started due to the low height magnetic reconnection of emerging magnetic flux with super-penumbral field resulting hot multi-temperature plasma flows in the inverse Evershed flow channel and its overlying atmosphere. The inverse Evershed flows in the chromosphere start from super penumbra towards sunspot that end at the outer boundary of the penumbra. The hot plasma…
Using the 135-second cadence of the photospheric vector data provided by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory, we examined the time-evolution of magnetic helicity fluxes across the photosphere during 16 flares with the energy class lower than M5.0. During the flare in 4 out of 16 events, we found impulsive changes in the helicity fluxes. This indicates that even the flare with less energy could be associated with anomalistic transportation of the magnetic helicity across the photosphere. Accompanying the impulsive helicity fluxes, the poynting f…
Sunspot groups are the main source of solar flares, with the energy to power them being supplied by magnetic-field evolution (e.g. flux emergence or twisting/shearing). To date, few studies have investigated the statistical relation between sunspot-group evolution and flaring, with none considering evolution in the McIntosh classification scheme. Here we present a statistical analysis of sunspot groups from Solar Cycle 22, focusing on 24-hour changes in the three McIntosh classification components. Evolution-dependent >C1.0, >M1.0, and >X1.0 flaring rates are calculated, leading to the followi…
