• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2023

The remote sensing technique of measuring the magnetic field was applied first to sunspots by Hale (1908). Later Babcock (1961) showed that the solar surface magnetic field on a global scale is a dipole in first-order approximation and that this dipole field reverses once every solar cycle. The Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) supplies the spherical harmonics coefficients of the solar corona magnetic field of each Carrington Rotation, calculated based on the remotely-sensed photospheric magnetic field of the solar surface. To infer the internal current system producing the global solar coronal magnetic field structure and evolution of the Sun, we calculate the multipole components of the solar magnetic field using the WSO data from 1976 to 2019. The prominent cycle components over the last 4 solar activity cycles are axis-symmetric fields of the dipole and octupole. This implies that the current inversion driving the solar magnetic field reversal originates from the equatorial region and spreads to the whole globe. Thus, a more accurate solar dynamo model must include an explanation of the origin and evolution of such solar internal current dynamics.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 2024

Global sustainable energy needs and carbon neutrality goals make hydrogen a key future energy source. South Korea and Japan lead with proactive hydrogen policies, including South Korea's Hydrogen Law and Japan's strategy updates aiming for a hydrogen-centric society by 2050. A notable advance is the solar thermal chemical water-splitting cycle for green hydrogen production, spotlighted by Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) and Niigata University's joint initiative. This method uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, offering a carbon-neutral hydrogen production route. The study focuses on international collaboration in solar energy for thermochemical water-splitting and E-fuel production, highlighting breakthroughs in catalyst and reactor design to enhance solar thermal technology's commercial viability for sustainable fuel production. Collaborations, like ARENA in Australia, target global carbon emission reduction and energy system sustainability, contributing to a cleaner, sustainable energy future.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.47.1-47.1
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• 2018

Solar cycles are inherent to the Sun, which experiences temporal changes in its magnetic activity via the surface distribution of the solar magnetic field. This raises a fundamental question of how to derive the distribution characteristics of a solar-surface magnetic field that are responsible for individual solar cycles. We present a new approach to deriving as long-term and large-scale distribution characteristics of this quantity as was ever obtained; that is, we conducted a population ecological analysis of Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) Synoptic Charts which provide a more than 40-year time series of latitude-longitude maps of solar-surface magnetic fields. In this approach, solar-surface magnetic fields are assumed as hypothetical trees with magnetic polarities (magnetic trees) distributed on the Sun. Accordingly, we identified a peculiarity of cycle 23 with a longer period than an average period of 11 years; specifically we found that the negative surface magnetic field had much more clumped distributions than the positive surface magnetic field during the first one-third of this cycle, while the latter was dominant over the former. The Sun eventually spent more than one-third of cycle 23 recovering from these imbalances.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2014

As the environmental regulations is more strengthened, the study of the renewable energy system and waste heat for electricity production is being accelerated. In this study, the performance and power generation rate of solar power generation by using R134a Rankine cycle was analyzed with solar radiation and mass flow rate of R134a. As a result, the maximum and minimum collected heat of solar collector was 20.4 kW and 13.6 kW at October and December, respectively. Besides, the highest generator power was generated at October and it was 0.91 kW/day, while the lowest generator power is occurred at December and it was about 0.85 kW/day.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.75-81
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• 2018

Solar activity has an important impact not only on the intensity of cosmic rays but also on the environment of Earth. In the present paper, a coupled oscillator model is proposed to explain solar activity. This model can be used to naturally reduce the 89-year Gleissberg cycle. Furthermore, as an application of the coupled oscillator model, we herein attempt to apply the proposed model to El $Ni{\tilde{n}}o$-southern oscillation (ENSO). As a result, the 22-year oscillation of the Pacific Ocean is naturally explained. Finally, we search for a possible explanation for coupled oscillators in actual solar activity.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.spc1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2003

Changes in the earth's climate depend on changes in the net sunlight reaching us. The net depends on the sun's output and earth's reflectance, or albedo. Here we develop the limits on the changes in the sun's output in historical times based on the physics of the origin of solar cycle changes. Many have suggested that the sun's output could have been $0.5\%$ less during the Maunder minimum, whereas the variation over the solar cycle is only about $0.1\%$. The frequencies of solar oscillations (f- and p-modes) evolve through the solar cycle, and provide the most exact measure of the cycle-dependent changes in the sun. But precisely what are they probing? The changes in the sun's output, structure and oscillation frequencies are driven by some combination of changes in the magnetic field, thermal structure and velocity field. It has been unclear what is the precise combination of the three. One way or another, this thorny issue rests on an understanding of the response of the solar structure to increased magnetic field, but this is complicated. Thus, we do not understand the origin of the sun's irradiance increase with increasing magnetic activity. Until recently, it seemed that an unphysically large magnetic field change was required to account for the frequency evolution during the cycle. However, the problem seems to have been solved (Dziembowski, Goode & Schou 2001) using f-mode data on size variations of the sun. From this and the work of Dziembowski & Goode (2003), we suggest that in historical times the sun couldn't be much dimmer than it is at activity minimum.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.313-314
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• 1996

Assuming that the solar activity and the solar cycle phenomena may be manifestations of global torsional MHD oscillations, we compute the Alfven wave travel times along the field lines in the five models of magnetic field described in the following text. For all these models, we compute standard deviation and it's ratio to mean Alfvenic wave travel times. The last two models yield the smallest relative bandwidth for the frequencies of the MHD oscillations. However, the last model is the only admissible one which can sustain global Alfvenic oscillations with well defined frequency for the fundamental mode

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2010

In this study, an absorption power cycle, which can be used for a low-temperature heat source driven power cycle such as geothermal power generation, was investigated and optimized in terms of power by the simulation method. A steady-state simulation model was adopted to analyze and optimize its performance. Simulations were carried out for the given heat source and sink inlet temperatures, and the given flow rates were based on the typical power plant thermal-capacitance-rate ratio. The cycle performance was evaluated for two independent variables: the ammonia fraction at the separator inlet and the maximum cycle pressure. Results showed that the absorption power cycle can generate electricity up to about 14 kW per 1 kg/s of heat source when the heat source temperature, heat sink temperature, and thermal-capacitance-rate ratio are $100^{\circ}C$, $20^{\circ}C$, and 5, respectively.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2012

Monitoring sunspots consistently is the most basic step required to study various aspects of solar activity. To achieve this goal, the observers must regularly calculate their own correction factor $k$ and keep it stable. Relatively recently, two observing teams in South Korea have presented interesting papers which claim that revisions that take the yearly-basis $k$ into account lead to a better agreement with the international relative sunspot number $R_i$, and that yearly $k$ apparently varies with the solar cycle. In this paper, using artificial data sets we have modeled the sunspot numbers as a superposition of random noise and a slowly varying background function, and attempted to investigate whether the variation in the correction factor is coupled with the solar cycle. Regardless of the statistical distributions of the random noise, we have found the correction factor increases as sunspot numbers increase, as claimed in the reports mentioned above. The degree of dependence of correction factor $k$ on the sunspot number is subject to the signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, we conclude that apparent dependence of the value of the correction factor $k$ on the phase of the solar cycle is not due to a physical property, but a statistical property of the data.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.325-331
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• 2015

We study an association between the duration of solar activity and characteristics of the latitude distribution of sunspots by means of center-of-latitude (COL) of sunspots observed during the period from 1878 to 2008 spanning solar cycles 12 to 23. We first calculate COL by taking the area-weighted mean latitude of sunspots for each calendar month to determine the latitudinal distribution of COL of sunspots appearing in the long and short cycles separately. The data set for the long solar cycles consists of the solar cycles 12, 13, 14, 20, and 23. The short solar cycles include the solar cycles 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, and 22. We then fit a double Gaussian function to compare properties of the latitudinal distribution resulting from the two data sets. Our main findings are as follows: (1) The main component of the double Gaussian function does not show any significant change in the central position and in the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM), except in the amplitude. They are all centered at ~ 11° with FWHM of ~ 5°. (2) The secondary component of the double Gaussian function at higher latitudes seems to differ in that even though their width remains fixed at ~ 4°, their central position peaks at ~ 22.1° for the short cycles and at ~ 20.7° for the long cycles with quite small errors. (3) No significant correlation could be established between the duration of an individual cycle and the parameters of the double Gaussian. Finally, we conclude by briefly discussing the implications of these findings on the issue of the cycle 4 concerning a lost cycle.