Large regions of coronal dimming often accompany coronal mass ejections cmes. The dimmings develop during or soon after the eruption, and may trace field lines locally opened during the CME. These…

This is a federal grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a nonprofit research organization, valued at $149,713.65. The grant is for a research program to better understand the initiation, development, and evolution of transient coronal dimming regions and their relationship to coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The program will use data from various solar observation satellites and instruments, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), and Hinode, to analyze EUV and soft X-ray dimming regions associated with CMEs. The research aims to support NASA's Heliophysics Decadal Survey goals of determining the origins of the Sun's activity and predicting variations in the space environment, as well as discovering and characterizing fundamental processes in the heliosphere. This grant is not associated with a set-aside contract and is part of SwRI's broader portfolio of federal awards, including prime and subcontract work for various government agencies in areas such as defense systems, space science, and energy research.

Large regions of coronal dimming often accompany coronal mass ejections cmes. The dimmings develop during or soon after the eruption, and may trace field lines locally opened during the CME. These dimming regions can be extensive, representing at least part of the base of a CME and the mass and magnetic flux transported outward by IT. The objective of this program is to better understand the initiation, development, and evolution of these transient dimming regions and how they are related to cmes. We will study EUV and soft X RAY coronal dimming regions that are associated with cmes, using especially SDO AIA, stereo euvi, SDO EVE, goes SXI, and PROBA2 swap imagery to identify and analyze EUV dimmings. Hinode data will also be used when the observation coincides with a dimming, as hinodes coverage of higher temperature coronal structure can reveal large scale connections that are not visible in low temperature EUV wavelengths. The objective of our program is to better understand the initiation, development, and evolution of transient coronal dimming regions and their relationship to cmes. Cmes and their associated coronal activity cause the largest disturbances in the corona and subsequently in the heliophere. They are the prime driver of space weather, not only at earth but also other planets and locations in the heliosphere and, therefore, can have a significant impact on society. Understanding the physics of cmes is fundamental to our understanding of heliophysics. Our effort addresses heliophysics decadal survey goal 1 determine the origins of the suns activity and predict the variations in the space environment as well as goal 4 discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur both within the heliosphere and throughout the universe