Last Updated: 2012sep19

Workshop on Solar Statistics

Feature Recognition, Thermal Structure, Numerical Computation, Massive Data Streams

Feb 16-17, 2012

Pratt Conference Room and Phillips Auditorium, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138

hea-www.harvard.edu/AstroStat/SolStat2012

| Description | Schedule | Participants | Contacts | changelog |

Description

We hosted an interdisciplinary two-day workshop on Solar Astronomy and Statistical inference at the CfA on Feb 16-17, 2012. Solar data present unique challenges of analysis. Current methods and algorithms generally fall short in dealing with the vast dynamic ranges in the properties of solar features, combined with the extraordinary detail and cadence at which they are observed. This workshop aims to bring together solar astronomers and statisticians in order to set up collaborative efforts to develop techniques and algorithms for feature recognition, thermal structure inference, and numerical computation that can deal with massive data streams that are originating from the current generation of solar telescopes.

Format: On the first day of the workshop, we had two tutorial sessions, one describing solar data for statisticians and the other describing statistics methods for astronomers. The second day we had talks and discussions on the major themes of the workshop, in 4 sessions of 1 1/2 hours each. In each session there were talks giving brief overviews of the subject, and commentaries by someone from a complementary field, followed by open discussions. We also had ePosters.

Webcast: The Workshop sessions were webcast. Note that due to technical limitations, there was no provision made for the tutorials to be webcast. Presentation slides and video recordings are available via SIP (see links in session schedule details below).

Schedule

The schedule was structured to encourage questions and discussion. Each session had solicited talks and commentaries, followed by open discussion.

Thursday, Feb 16 (Pratt)

Presentation slides [.pdf]

Download datasets [.zip], tutorial script [.R], MCMC sampler sample script [.R]

* Download the R software package from http://cran.r-project.org/ and install it on your laptop before the tutorial begins.

- A useful tutorial on R for astronomers [.pdf] is available from Alex Storer based on a class given at the Wolbach Library at the CfA.

- A primer on using R in astronomy from Alastair Sanderson.

Presentation slides [.pptx]

Download AIA download/analysis script [.pro], star_squasher subroutine [.pro], xrt_fourier_vacuum subroutine [.pro]

* This tutorial relies on SolarSoftWare (SSW), which is a suite of IDL programs. If you do not already have IDL installed, you may download an executable from ITT/Exelis if you register for the Workshop by Feb 8.

1. Download SSW from http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/ssw_install_howto.html

- be sure to install the following packages at a minimum: aia, hmi, xrt, ontology, vso, binaries

2. Download IDL to your laptop via the ITT/Exelis website. This will require registration and a check for ITAR compliance by the company.

- IDL requires a license key to operate.

- You can test the installation even without a license. IDL will run in a 7-minute demo mode. If you are installing the UNIX version, note that you may run into problems if you install it at a non-standard location.

Friday, Feb 17 (Phillips)

The schedule below lists some speakers and commenters who will lead off the sessions. Attendees are encouraged to bring slides to show during the discussions.

Content-based Image Retrieval for Solar Physics -- Petrus Martens (MSU)

[.pptx]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Active Region Identification and Tracking -- Mike Turmon (JPL)

[.pptx]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Commentary -- David Stenning (UCI)

[.pdf]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Open Discussion

Newly Discovered Global Temperature Structures in the Quiet Sun at Solar Minimum -- Rich Frazin (Michigan)

[.pptx]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Commentary -- Alanna Connors (EurekaSci)

[.key]

[.mov]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Quality of DEM Reconstructions -- Paola Testa (SAO)

[.key]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Open Discussion

Finding oscillating regions in SDO/AIA data -- Jack Ireland (GSFC)

[.pdf]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Commentary -- Becca Willet (Duke)

[.pdf]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Open Discussion

Massive solar data streams -- Alisdair Davey (CfA)

[.pptx]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Fast Algorithms -- Alexander Gray (Georgia Institute of Technology)

[.ppt]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Commentary -- Tom Loredo (Cornell)

[.pdf]

Video [.mov] (@SIP)

Open Discussion

Automatic Classification and Tracking of Solar Features

Stenning, David (Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine); Kashyap, Vinay (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory); Lee, Thomas (Department of Statistics, University of California, Davis); van Dyk, David (Statistics Section, Imperial College London); Young, C. Alex (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
[.pdf]

Flare detection in Hinode XRT lightcurves

Posson-Brown, Jennifer (SAO); Kashyap, Vinay (SAO); Grigis, Paolo (SAO)
[.key]
[.pdf]

Fast DEMs for AIA

Plowman, Joseph (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA); Kankelborg, Charles (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA); Martens, Petrus (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA); Ritchie, Miriam (University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK); Scott, Jason (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA); Sharma, Rahul (Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Rajasthan, India)
[.pdf]

Participants

Contacts

SOC

Vinay Kashyap (vkashyap @ cfa . harvard . edu)
Mark Weber (mweber @ cfa . harvard . edu)
Alex Young (c.a.young @ nasa . gov)
Jennifer Posson-Brown (jpbrown @ head . cfa . harvard . edu)

LOC

Michelle Henson
Aldo Solares
Lisa Paton
Wendy Roberts
Jennifer Posson-Brown
Mark Weber
Sean McKillop
Patrick McCauley
Alisdair Davey
Vinay Kashyap

changelog

2012-feb-02: added speakers and commenters; started changelog.

2012-feb-04: cosmetic changes; updated attendees list.

2012-feb-06: added ePoster section.

2012-feb-13: added link to anon-ftp site where slides may be dropped off to show during Open Discussion periods; floor plan to Pratt and Phillips; added talk titles; updated solar tutorial info.

2012-feb-14: updated IDL info for solar tutorial.

2012-feb-15: added schedule pdf; added link to nearby restaurants; added Solar Tutorial anon-ftp repository link

2012-feb-16: added Stats Tutorial anon-ftp repository link; added IDL license to Solar Tutorial ftp site; added stats and solar tutorial slides; added webcast URL

2012-feb-17: added slides for session 1, 2, 3, 4

2012-feb-20: updates post-workshop; pre-workshop version is still available

2012-mar-01: all eposters are now online

2012-jun-22: all presentations are now online

2012-sep-19: all recorded videos are now online (via SIPwork); tutorial scripts are now served locally