2014/04/07 by Monica G. Bobra, Xudong Sun, J. Todd Hoeksema +5 · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11207-014-0529-3
27 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to Solar Physics
arxiv created 2014/04/07 · arxiv updated 2014/04/08
A new data product from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) called Space-weather HMI Active Region Patches (SHARPs) is now available. SDO/HMI is the first space-based instrument to map the full-disk photospheric vector magnetic field with high cadence and continuity. The SHARP data series provide maps in patches that encompass automatically tracked magnetic concentrations for their entire lifetime; map quantities include the photospheric vector magnetic field and its uncertainty, along with Doppler velocity, continuum intensity, and line-of-sight magnetic field. Furthermore, keywords in the SHARP data series provide several parameters that concisely characterize the magnetic-field distribution and its deviation from a potential-field configuration. These indices may be useful for active-region event forecasting and for identifying regions of interest. The indices are calculated per patch and are available on a twelve-minute cadence. Quick-look data are available within approximately three hours of observation; definitive science products are produced approximately five weeks later. SHARP data are available at http://jsoc.stanford.edu and maps are available in either of two different coordinate systems. This article describes the SHARP data products and presents examples of SHARP data and parameters.