Solar limb prominence catcher and tracker (slipcat): An automated system and its preliminary statistical results

In this paper, we present an automated system, which has the capability to catch and track solar limb prominences based on observations from the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) 304 Å passband. The characteristic parameters and their evolution, including height, position angle, area, length, and brightness, are obtained without manual interventions. By applying the system to the STEREO-B/SECCHI/EUVI 304 Å data during 2007 April-2009 October, we obtain a total of 9477 well-tracked prominences and a catalog of these events available online. A detailed analysis of these prominences suggests that the system has a rather good performance. We have obtained several interesting statistical results based on the catalog. Most prominences appear below the latitude of 60° and at the height of about 26 Mm above the solar surface. Most of them are quite stable during the period they are tracked. Nevertheless, some prominences have an upward speed of more than 100 km s^-1, and some others show significant downward and/or azimuthal speeds. There are strong correlations among the brightness, area, and height. The expansion of a prominence is probably one major cause of its fading during the rising or erupting process.