The LASCO Coronal Brightness Index
arXiv:2001.07596 · doi:10.1007/s11207-020-1589-1
Abstract
We present the construction of a new white-light coronal brightness index (CBI) from the entire archive of observations recorded by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) C2 camera between 1996 and 2017, comprising two full solar cycles. We reduce all fully calibrated daily C2 observations of the white light corona into a single daily coronal brightness observation for every day of observation recorded by the instrument, with mean daily brightness values binned into 0.1 Rsun radial x 1 degree angular regions from 2.4 -- 6.2 Rsun for a full 360-degrees. As a demonstration of the utility of the CBI, we construct a new solar irradiance proxy that correlates well with a variety of direct solar irradiance observations, with correlations shown to be in the range of 0.77-0.89. We also present a correlation mapping technique to show how irradiance correlations depend on, and relate to, coronal structure/locations, and to demonstrate how the LASCO CBI can be used to perform long-term "spatial correlation" studies to investigate relationships between the solar corona and any arbitrary concurrent geophysical index. Using this technique we find possible relationships between coronal brightness and plasma temperature, interplanetary magnetic field magnitude and (very weakly) proton density.
arXiv comment35 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted to Solar Physics
References in corpus (11)
- Earth's Energy Imbalance and Implications
- Nominal values for selected solar and planetary quantities: IAU 2015 Resolution B3
- Comprehensive Analysis of Coronal Mass Ejection Mass and Energy Properties Over a Full Solar Cycle
- Solar activity over nine millennia: A consistent multi-proxy reconstruction
- Solar Irradiance Variability is Caused by the Magnetic Activity on the Solar Surface
- ACRIM total solar irradiance satellite composite validation versus TSI proxy models
- A Comparison Between Global Proxies of the Sun's Magnetic Activity Cycle: Inferences from Helioseismology
- Streamer Wave Events Observed in Solar Cycle 23
- Long-Term Trends In The Solar Wind Proton Measurements
- Coronal electron density, temperature and solar spectral irradiance during the solar cycle 23 and 24
- Structure of the Solar Dust Corona and its Interaction with the other Coronal Components
Cited by in corpus (4)
- The Temporal and Spatial Behaviors of CME Occurrence Rate at Different Latitudes
- Restitution of the K and F Components of the Solar Corona from LASCO-C2 Images over 24 Years [1996--2019]
- The Relationship between the Kinematics of Coronal Mass Ejections and the Brightness of the Corona
- Polarization of the Corona Observed During the 2017 and 2019 Total Solar Eclipses