[Previous] | [Session 22] | [Next]
C. Denker, W. Marquette, H. Wang, P. R. Goode, A. Johannesson (BBSO/NJIT)
Since December 1997, the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) has provided daily, contrast enhanced, H\alpha full disk images of unsurpassed quality, temporal resolution of about 30 s, and spatial resolution of about 2 arcsec which allow us to study the evolution of small-scale structures and low-contrast features. This data set has the right qualities to allow us to study large-scale phenomena associated with major solar flares such as Moreton waves, transient brightening of the H\alpha network, filament eruptions and disappearances. In 1998, 31 flares of magnitude M3.0 or larger were observed by the Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). Eight of them occurred during the typical observing hours at BBSO and seven were actually covered by H\alpha full disk observations presented here. We provide a detailed description of various chromospheric disturbances initiated by the flares, the influence of magnetic fields on their appearance, and their association with coronal mass ejections.
This work was supported by ONR under grant N00014-97-1-1037, by NSF under grant ATM 97-14796, and by NASA under grant NAG 5-4919 and NAG 5-7350.
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a
s follows: