• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2012

Since the development of surface magnetic features should reflect the evolution of the solar magnetic field in the deep interior of the Sun, it is crucial to study properties of sunspots and sunspot groups to understand the physical processes working below the solar surface. Here, using the data set of sunspot groups observed at the ButterStar observatory for 3,364 days from 2002 October 16 to 2011 December 31, we investigate temporal change of sunspot groups depending on their Z$\ddot{u}$rich classification type. Our main findings are as follows: (1) There are more sunspot groups in the southern hemisphere in solar cycle 23, while more sunspot groups appear in the northern hemisphere in solar cycle 24. We also note that in the declining phase of solar cycle 23 the decreasing tendency is apparently steeper in the solar northern hemisphere than in the solar southern hemisphere. (2) Some of sunspot group types make a secondary peak in the distribution between the solar maximum and the solar minimum. More importantly, in this particular data set, sunspot groups which have appeared in the solar southern hemisphere make a secondary peak 1 year after a secondary peak occurs in the solar northern hemisphere. (3) The temporal variations of small and large sunspot group numbers are disparate. That is, the number of large sunspot group declines earlier and faster and that the number of small sunspot group begins to rise earlier and faster. (4) The total number of observed sunspot is found to behave more likewise as the small sunspot group does. Hence, according to our findings, behaviors and evolution of small magnetic flux tubes and large magnetic flux tubes seem to be different over solar cycles. Finally, we conclude by briefly pointing out its implication on the space weather forecast.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 1996

We have analyzed vector magnetograms and $H\beta$ filtergrams of two sunspot groups, one in a growing phase and the other in a decaying phase. In this study, the temporal evolution of their magnetic morphology has been investigated in association with solar activity. The morphological variations of the growing and decaying phase of these sunspots revealed in detail the coalescence of small spots into a large spot and the fragmentation of a large spot into many small spots, respectively. Numerous small flares were detected in the spot group during the decaying phase. This seems to be intimately associated with the shearing motions of many spots with different polarities created by fragmentation of a large sunspot. The magnetic flux and the average shear angle are found to be substantially reduced during the decaying phase, especially in the course of the flarings. This implies that the decaying phase of the sunspot is, to some degree, involved with magnetic field cancellation. The growing spot group has not shown any large activities, but numerous small spots have grown into a typical bipolar sunspot.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.29 no.spc1
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• pp.317-319
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• 1996

Utilizing a Calcium filter, a large two ribbon flare of an importance 2.5Xj31? was recorded at. King Abdul-Aziz University Solar Observatory (KAAUSO) at the 30th of October 1991. This chromosphenc flare observation, which is of special importance since it is rarely reported, was for a flare that occurred near the south west of the equator at the vicinity of a large sunspot group on an active region known as AR 6891. The observed foot points of this flare had a strange behavior in which the separating motion of the ribbons were not typical of most flares, rather were nearly orthogonal. In this article we present the characteristics of the main sunspot group of this active region and try to investigate its evolution and fragmentation with time. Information regarding magnetic fields and velocity fields are necessary to understand the restructuring of the magnetic field pattern and plasma motion, and hence the changes that could lead to the occurrence of such an interesting flare.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.89-97
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• 2019

We demonstrate the subsurface origin of the observed evolution of the solar active region 10930 (AR10930) associated with merging and breakup of magnetic polarity regions at the solar surface. We performed a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of an emerging magnetic flux tube whose field-line twist is asymmetrically distributed along its axis, which is a key to merging and fragmentation in this active region. While emerging into the surface, the flux tube is subjected to partial splitting of its weakly twisted portion, forming separate polarity regions at the solar surface. As emergence proceeds, these separate polarity regions start to merge and then break up, while in the corona sigmoidal structures form and a solar eruption occurs. We discuss what physical processes could be involved in the characteristic evolution of an active region magnetic field that leads to the formation of a sunspot surrounded by satellite polarity regions.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.41.2-41.2
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• 2019

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the subsurface origin of the complex observed evolution of the solar active region 10930 (AR10930) associated with merging and breakup of magnetic polarity regions at the solar surface. This is important for a comprehensive understanding of observed properties of the active region, because subsurface magnetic flux and subsurface dynamical processes are seamlessly connected to surface magnetic flux and surface dynamical processes, respectively. In other words, the solar surface does not behave as an impermeable boundary towards magnetic flux and dynamical processes. In this talk, we show a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of merging and fragmentation in AR10930. We then discuss what physical processes could be involved in the characteristic evolution of an active region magnetic field that leads to the formation of a sunspot surrounded by satellite polarity regions.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2011

The latitudinal variation of sunspots appearing during the period from 1874 to 2009 has been studied in terms of centerof-latitude (COL). The butterfly diagram has been used to study the evolution of the magnetic field and the dynamics at the bottom of the solar convection zone. Short-term periodicities have been of particular interest, in that they are somehow related to the structure and dynamics of the solar interior. We thus have focused our investigation on shortterm periodicities. We first calculated COL by averaging the latitude of sunspots with the weight function in area. Then, we analyzed the time series of COL using the wavelet transform technique. We found that a periodicity of ~5 years is the most dominant feature in the time series of COL, with the exception of the ~11 year solar cycle itself. This periodicity can be easily understood by considering small humps between the minima in the area-weighted butterfly diagram. However, we find that periodicities of ~1.3 (0.064), ~1.5 (0.056), or ~1.8 (0.046) years ($\frac{1}{month}$), month ), which have been previously suggested as evidence of links between the changing structure of the sunspot zone and the tachocline rotation rate oscillations, are insignificant and inconsistent. We therefore conclude that the only existing short-term periodicity is of ~5 years, and that periodicities of ~1.3, ~1.5, or ~1.8 years are likely to be artifacts due to random noise of small sunspots.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2000

Nonpotential characteristics of magnetic fields in AR 5747 are examined using Mees Solar Observatory magnetograms taken on Oct. 20, 1989 to Oct. 22, 1989. The active region showed such violent flaring activities during the observational span that strong X-ray flares took place including a 2B/X3 flare. The magnetogram data were obtained by the Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter which provides simultaneous Stokes profiles of the Fe I doublet 6301.5 and 6302.5. A nonlinear least square method was adopted to derive the magnetic field vectors from the observed Stokes profiles and a multi-step ambiguity solution method was employed to resolve the $180^{\circ}$ ambiguity. From the ambiguity-resolved vector magnetograms, we have derived a set of physical quantities characterizing the field configuration, which are magnetic flux, vertical current density, magnetic shear angle, angular shear, magnetic free energy density, a measure of magnetic field discontinuity MAD and linear force-free coefficient. Our results show that (1) magnetic nonpotentiality is concentrated near the inversion line in the flaring sites, (2) all the physical parameters decreased with time, which may imply that the active region was in a relaxation stage of its evolution, (3) 2-D MAD has similar patterns with other nonpotential parameters, demonstrating that it can be utilized as an useful parameter of flare producing active region, and (4) the linear force-free coefficient could be a evolutionary indicator with a merit as a global nonpotential parameter.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 1999

We have investigated the solar activity variation with period shorter than 1000 days, through Fourier transformation of solar cycle 21 and 22 data. And real time predictions of the flare maximum intensity have been made by multilinear regression method to allow the use of multivariate vectors of sunspot groups or active region characteristics. In addition, we have examined the evolution of magnetic field and current density in active regions at times before and after flare occurrence, to check short term variability of solar activity. According to our results of calculation, solar activity changes with periods of 27.1, 28.0, 52.1, 156.3, 333.3 days for solar cycle 21 and of 26.5, 27.1, 28.9, 54.1, 154, 176.7, 384.6 days for solar cycle 22. Periodic components of about 27, 28, 53, 155 days are found simultaneously at all of two solar cycles. Finally, from our intensive analysis of solar activity data for three different terms of $1977\~1982,\; 1975\~1998,\;and\;1978\~1982$, we find out that our predictions coincide with observations at hit rate of $76\%,\;63\%$, 59 respectively.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.65.1-65.1
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• 2013

The 2011 August 09 Flare is one of the largest X-ray flares of Sunspot Cycle 24 to attract a lot of attention for its various activities detected in coronal images. In this study we concern ourselves mostly on information of high energy electrons produced during this flare provided by hard X ray data from the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) and radio data from the Korean Solar Radio Burst Locator (KSRBL) and Ondrejov. EUV images obtained by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory are used to provide the context of magnetic reconnection. In our results, (1) HXR spectra have a rich spectral morphology. Initially it could be fit by one thermal component (T~30MK) and one single power law nonthermal spectrum, but later a better fit could be made by introducing an additional thermal component (T~55 MK). (2) Time delays between the KSRBL burst and the RHESSI hard X-ray emission were found which are more obvious at low frequencies and insignificant at high frequencies. (3) The HXR source lies in the core of the quadrupolar active region. In our interpretation based on AIA 94 A images, the outer part of the active region erupted to be blown out, leaving the intense hard X-ray emission concentrated in the core. We relate the appearance of the second thermal component to the evolution of the AIA 171 and 94 A images. The time delays of microwave peaks to HXR peaks are interpreted as indicating presence of trapped electrons in larger closed magnetic loops. With these result we conclude that the hard X ray and microwaves are due to impulsive acceleration in the low and high heights and a sigmoidal reconnection scenario.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.31.4-32
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• 2016

Observing the solar atmosphere with ground-based telescopes in the near-infrared has a number of advantages when compared to classical measurements in visible wavelengths. One of them comes from the magnetic sensitivity of spectral lines, which varies as ${\lambda}_g$, where g is the effective $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor of the transition. This wavelength dependence makes the near-infrared range adequate to study subtle spatial or temporal variations of the magnetic field. Spectral lines, such as the photospheric Fe I $1.5648{\mu}m$ spectral line, with a $Land{\acute{e}}$ factor g=3, have often been used in the past for this type of studies. To study the chromosphere, the Ca II IR triplet and the He I $1.0830{\mu}m$ triplet are the most often observed lines. The latter has the additional advantage that the photospheric Si I $1.0827{\mu}m$ is close enough so that photosphere and chromosphere can be simultaneously recorded with a single detector in a spectrograph. The instrument TIP (Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter) has been continuously operating since 1999 at the 70-cm German VTT of the Observatorio del Teide and has been recently moved to the 1.5-m German GREGOR. During all this time, results have been obtained concerning the nature of the weak photospheric magnetic field of the quiet sun, magneto-acoustic wave propagation, evolution with the cycle of sunspot magnetic fields, photospheric and chromospheric magnetic field in emerging regions, magnetic field in chromospheric structures such as filaments, prominences, flares, and spicules, etc. In this talk, I will review the main results obtained after all these observations and mention the main challenges for the future. With its novel polarization-free design and a complete suite of instruments aimed at simultaneous (imaging and spectroscopic) observations of the solar photosphere and chromosphere, the EST (European Solar Telescope) will represent a major world-wide infrastructure to understand the physical nature of all these phenomena.