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Session 2 - The Solar Photosphere and Magnetic Field.
Display session, Monday, June 10
Tripp Commons,

[2.05] Vector Magnetic Field Observations of the Solar South Pole

J. Wülser (LMSC), D. L. Mickey (U.Hawaii)

The structure and dynamics of the magnetic field near the poles of the sun, and its relationship to the coronal temperature and density structure is not well understood. On 1996 March 7, the SoHO spacecraft, and several ground based observatories carried out coordinated observations of the solar South Pole. At that time, the South Pole was tilted about 7 degrees towards the earth, and offered the best possible viewing conditions.

We used the Imaging Vector Magnetograph (IVM) at Mees Solar Observatory to obtain a time series of 41 vector magnetograms over a 7 hour period during the campaign. Vector magnetic field observations are uniquely well suited to study the polar field. First, the polar field is expected to be mostly perpendicular to the line-of-sight, and second, the observed direction of the field allows a direct comparison with the observed structure of the corona. Our unique time series of observations allows us to study dynamic changes, while it increases our sensitivity for weak static field structures.

We present first results of our South Pole vector magnetic field observations. We discuss them in the context of simultaneous MDI-SoHO line-of-sight observations, and compare our vector fields with the coronal structure as observed by SXT on Yohkoh, and EIT on SoHO.

Program listing for Monday