• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.40.1-40.1
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• 2011

Large solar flares are associated with various aspects of space weather effects. Numerous attempts have been made to predict when the solar flare will be occurred mainly based on the configuration of the magnetic field of its flaring site. We analyze the time series of f/g which indicates a representative measure of the sunspot complexity to see whether it shows a possibility to be predicted without huge amounts of observation. Two kinds of analysis results are presented. One is from its power spectrum giving that there's no significantly persistent periodicity within a few days. Its de-trended fluctuation shows the Hurst exponent larger than 0.5 implying that the f/g time series has a long-term memory in time scales less than 10 days.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.29-39
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• 2017

We investigate two abnormal CME-Storm pairs that occurred on 2014 September 10 - 12 and 2015 March 15 - 17, respectively. The first one was a moderate geomagnetic storm ($Dst_{min}{\sim}-75nT$) driven by the X1.6 high speed flare-associated CME ($1267km\;s^{-1}$) in AR 12158 (N14E02) near solar disk center. The other was a very intense geomagnetic storm ($Dst_{min}{\sim}-223nT$) caused by a CME with moderate speed ($719km\;s^{-1}$) and associated with a filament eruption accompanied by a weak flare (C9.1) in AR 12297 (S17W38). Both CMEs have large direction parameters facing the Earth and southward magnetic field orientation in their solar source region. In this study, we inspect the structure of Interplanetary Flux Ropes (IFRs) at the Earth estimated by using the torus fitting technique assuming self-similar expansion. As results, we find that the moderate storm on 2014 September 12 was caused by small-scale southward magnetic fields in the sheath region ahead of the IFR. The Earth traversed the portion of the IFR where only the northward fields are observed. Meanwhile, in case of the 2015 March 17 storm, our IFR analysis revealed that the Earth passed the very portion where only the southward magnetic fields are observed throughout the passage. The resultant southward magnetic field with long-duration is the main cause of the intense storm. We suggest that 3D magnetic field geometry of an IFR at the IFR-Earth encounter is important and the strength of a geomagnetic storm is strongly affected by the relative location of the Earth with respect to the IFR structure.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.171-177
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• 2004

X-ray plasma ejections often occurred around the impulsive phases of solar flares and have been well observed by the SXT aboard Yohkoh. Though the X-ray plasma ejections show various morphological shapes, there has been no attempt at classifying the morphological groups for a large sample of the X-ray plasma ejections. In this study, we have classified 137 X-ray plasma ejections according to their shape for the first time. Our classification criteria are as follows: (1) a loop type shows ejecting plasma with the shape of loops, (2) a spray type has a continuous stream of plasma without showing any typical shape, (3) a jet type shows collimated motions of plasma, (4) a confined ejection shows limited motions of plasma near a flaring site. As a result, we classified the flare-associated X-ray plasma ejections into five groups as follows: loop-type (60 events), spray-type (40 events), jet-type (11 events), confined ejection (18 events), and others (8 events). As an illustration, we presented time sequence images of several typical events to discuss their morphological characteristics, speed, CME association, and magnetic field configuration. We found that the jet-type events tend to have higher speeds and better association with CMEs than those of the loop-type events. It is also found that the CME association (11/11) of the jet-type events is much higher than that (5/18) of the confined ejections. These facts imply that the physical characteristics of the X-ray plasma ejections are closely associated with magnetic field configurations near the reconnection regions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.72.1-72.1
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• 2014

In this study, we extrapolate a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) from an observed photospheric magnetic field to understand the three-dimensional (3D) coronal magnetic field producing a huge solar flare. The purpose of this study is to develop a NLFFF extrapolation code based on the so-called MHD relaxation method and check how accurately our model reconstructs a coronal field. Furthermore, we apply it to the photospheric magnetic field obtained by Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to reconstruct a 3D magnetic structure. We first investigate factors in controlling the accuracy of our NLFFF code by using a semi-analytical solution obtained by Low & Lou (1990). To extend a work done by Inoue et al. (2014), we apply various boundary conditions at the side and top boundaries in order to make our solution close to a realistic solution. As a consequence, our solution has a good accuracy when three components of a reference field are all fixed at the boundaries. Furthermore, it is also found that our solution is well matched to the Low & Lou solution in the central area of a simulation domain when the three components of a potential field are fixed at side and top boundaries (this approach is close to a realistic solution). Finally, we present the 3D coronal magnetic field producing an X 1.5-class flare in the active region 11166 through the extrapolation from SDO/HMI.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.52.3-52.3
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• 2019

We investigate a relative contribution from short to long-term flaring rate to predicting M and X-class flare probabilities. In this study, we consider magnetic parameters summarizing distribution and non-potentiality by Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseimic and Magnetic Imager and flare list by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites. A short-term rate is the number of major flares that occurred in an given active region (AR) within one day before the prediction time. A mid-term rate is a mean flaring rate from the AR appearance day to one day before the prediction time. A long-term rate is a rate determined from a relationship between magnetic parameter values of ARs and their flaring rates from 2010 May to 2015 April. In our model, the predicted rate is given by the combination of weighted three rates satisfying that their sum of the weights is 1. We calculate Brier skill scores (BSSs) for investigating weights of three terms giving the best prediction performance using ARs from 2015 April to 2018 April. The BSS (0.22) of the model with only long-term is higher than that with only short-term or mid-term. When short or mid-term are considered additionally, the BSSs are improved. Our model has the best performance (BSS = 0.29) when all three terms are considered, and their relative contribution from short to long-term rate are 19%, 23%, and 58%, respectively. This model seems to be more effective when predicting active solar ARs having several major flares.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

The recent study of Chae et al. (2017) found a one-to-one correspondence between plasma blobs outflowing along a ray formed after a coronal mass ejection (CME) and small X-ray flares. In the present work, we have examined the spatial configuration and the eruption process of the flares that are associated with the blobs by analyzing EUV images and magnetograms taken by the SDO/AIA and HMI. We found that the main flare and the successive small flares took place in a quadrupolar magnetic configuration characterized by predominant magnetic fields of positive polarity, two minor magnetic fragments of negative polarity, and a curved polarity inversion line between them, which suggests that the formation process of the blobs may be similar to that of the parent CME. We also found that the successive flares resulted in a gradual change of the quadrupolar magnetic configuration, and the relevant migration of flaring kernels. The three-dimensional geometry and the property of the current sheet, that is often supposed to be embedded in an observed post-CME ray, seem to keep changing because of mutual feedback between the successive flares and the temporal change of the magnetic field configuration. Our results suggest that the observed post-CME rays may not reflect the characteristics of the current sheet responsible for the impulsive phase of the flare.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 1997

SOFT($\underline{So}lar\;\underline{F}lare\;\underline{T}elescope$) installed at BOAO(Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory) is purposed for observing solar active regions using four refractors on single mount with a $400"\times300"$ field of view: Two refractors with a diameter of 15cm(f15) are observe the white light and $H\alpha$, and the other two refractors with a diameter of 20cm(f8) are observe the magnetic field distribution and Doppler shifts at the solar chromosphere. Three Lyot filters, one of the most important observational instruments, are installed on the optical rails for VMG, LMG, and $H\alpha$ that possible to very narrow pass band observation under high precision stability of temperature. From the combination of KD*P and quarter wave plate in the Lyot filter possible observe the magnetic fields strength and doppler shifts by using the characteristics of polarization components. In this paper, we introduce the basic characteristics, optical system, and monitor system of the SOFT.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.32.4-33
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• 2008

Korea space weather prediction center (KSWPC) in Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been constructing several facilities to observe mid- to low-latitude upper atmospheric/ionospheric phenomena; VHF coherent scattering radar, All-sky Imager, and Scintmon. Those new ionospheric facilities can be integrated to produce more reliable space weather forecast and nowcast with the existing facilities; Solar Flare Telescope (SOFT), Solar Optical Observatory's sunspot telescope and solar imaging spectrograph, and Magnetometer. The specification of KASI VHF coherent scattering radar is 40.8 MHz of target frequency, 200 kHz of bandwidth, 24 kW of peak power. The science goal of this radar is to measure the irregularities in E- and F-layers over Korea, especially sporadic-E, spread-F, and traveling ionospheric disturbance (TID). The radar will be installed at Gyerong in a territory of Korean Air force by early 2009.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.111.1-111.1
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• 2012

We examine the relationship between a type II radio burst that started from an unusually high frequency of 425 MHz (fundamental component) and an associated white-light coronal mass ejection on 2011 February 13. The radio burst had a drift rate of 2.5 MHz/sec, indicating a relatively high shock speed. From SDO AIA observations we find that a loop-like erupting front sweeps across high density coronal loops near the start time of the burst (17:34:15 UT). We find fragmented structures of the type II burst, which indicates the signature of the shock propagating through the multiple loops. The deduced distance of shock formation (0.06 Rs) from flare center and speed of the shock (1100 km $s^{-1}$) using the measured density from AIA/SDO observations are comparable to the height (0.05 Rs, from the solar surface) and speed (700 km $s^{-1}$) of the CME leading edge observed by STEREO/EUVI. We conclude that the type II burst could be onset even in the low corona (41 Mm or 0.06 Rs, above the solar surface) if a fast CME shock passes through the high density loops.

• Information and Communications Magazine
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.97-106
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• 1998

It is crucial to predict the variabilities of the near-earth space environment associated with the solar activity, which cause enormous socio-economic impacts on mankind. The geomagnetic storm prediction scheme adopted in this study is designed to predict such variabilities in terms of the geomagnetic indices, AE and Dst, the cross-polar cap potential difference, the energy dissipation rate over the polar ionosphere and associated temperature increase in the thermosphere. The prediction code consists of two parts; prediction of the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field based upon actual flare observations and estimation of various electrodynamic quantities mentioned above from the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling function 'epsilon' which is derivable through the predicted solar wind parameters. As a test run, the magnetic storm that occurred in early November, 1993, is simulated and the results are compared with the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field measured by the Japanese satellite, Geotail, and the geomagnetic indices obtained from ground magnetic observatories. Although numerous aspects of the code are to be further improved, the comparison between the simulated results and the actual measurements encourages us to use this prediction scheme as the first appoximation in forecasting the disturbances of the near-earth space environment associated with solar flares.