Space Weather: Study of Evolution of Magnetic Fields Associated with Flares, Filament Eruptions and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

Motivated by the recent discovery of a possible connection between sudden changes in active region magnetic flux at the solar surface and the onset of a solar flare or coronal mass ejection, a coordinated study of the five best events will be undertaken to elucidate the physical underpinning of this connection. The unprecedented coverage of these events includes magnetograms from the Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Michelson Doppler Imager, the Mees Solar Observatory, and the Marshall Space Flight Center, and coronal data obtained by EIT, TRACE and Yohkoh. The second part of this effort will identify a set of events with high quality data coverage and associated coronal mass ejections, to determine the nature of the statistical basis of this connection. The results of this study will enable the community to establish space weather forecasting tools by monitoring photospheric magnetic field evolution, such as rapid flux emergence or cancellation, and the sudden acceleration of shear flows.