Sunquakes and Helioseismology
The idea of helioseismology, or "earthquakes on the sun," truly piqued my interest in solar physics. Currently, I am working with colleagues from both Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley and NorthWest Research Associates to investigate submerged sources of acoustic power.
By studying the propogation of waves, specifically acoustic transients, through the solar medium, we can get a small glimpse into the composition and mechanics that make up their environment. We use helioseismic holography, doppler maps, and data visualization techniques to probe deeper layers of the sun, looking for energetic catalysts for activity on the solar surface. ( image credit: NASA )
Pipeline Development
To this end, I create software to parse through fits files of solar data originally sourced by HMI/SDO. I also create packaged data products that you can load into different analysis scripts, creating a user-friendly workflow. For example, the blue image of the solar surface depicts two sub-surface energetic acoustic events, which are the concern of our ApJ paper (in preparation).
In the said paper, we present a novel approach to visualizing depth discrimination of acoustic power and correlate our methods with known techniques to helioseismic holography. Furthermore, this approach allows us to identify submerged acoustic power regions and investigate their relationship with impulsive flaring events.