| Event Description:
Tom Bogdan, Space Environment Center, NOAA A tale of three waves: coupled wave equations used in the ‘sounding’ of magnetized atmospheres Propagating and standing waves are especially useful for the remote sensing of distant and difficult-to-access media. A familiar example is the seismology of the Earth’s interior, often associated with earthquakes. SInce the 1970’s the same concepts have been applied to the Sun, our nearest star, through the new science of helioseismology. The solar interior effectively supports a single wave model called an acoustic-gravity wave, which has been successfully employed to determine the variations of rotation and temperature with depth throughout the entire solar interior. In the solar atmosphere--the tenuous and optically-transparent material envelope that is readily observed during a total eclipse--there is an additional restoring force associated with the prevalent magnetic field. Consequently the solar atmosphere supports not one, but rather three models of propagating information, energy and momentum through wave modes. In this talk I will describe the basic elements of the seismology of magnetized atmospheres through an analytic and numerical study of the coupled partial differential equations that describe the underlying physical dynamics of this system. I will also present some actual observations of waves propagating through the solar atmosphere and will touch briefly on the applications of this research to the forecasting weather in space. |
| Location Information: Main Campus - Engineering Classroom Wing (View Map) 1111 Engineering DR Boulder, CO Room: 245 |
| Contact Information: Name: Ian Cunningham Phone: 303-492-4668 Email: amassist@colorado.edu |