NSF Org:	AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
Recipient:	ATMOSPHERIC & SPACE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES LLC
Initial Amendment Date:	April 6, 2021
Latest Amendment Date:	June 14, 2023
Award Number:	2035710
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Andreas Keiling akeiling@nsf.gov  (703)292-7834 AGS  Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO  Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date:	April 15, 2021
End Date:	March 31, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$525,490.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$525,490.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2021 = $525,490.00
History of Investigator:	Geoffrey Crowley (Principal Investigator) geoff.crowley@orionspace.com David Webb (Co-Principal Investigator) Michael Kirk (Former Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	ATMOSPHERIC & SPACE TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, L.L.C. 282 CENTURY PL STE 1000 LOUISVILLE CO  US  80027-1677 (210)834-3475
Sponsor Congressional District:	02
Primary Place of Performance:	Atmospheric & Space Tech Research Associates 282 Century Place Louisville CO  US  80027-1676
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	DRYZNRMCBKL6
Parent UEI:	DRYZNRMCBKL6
NSF Program(s):	SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL
Primary Program Source:	01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):
Program Element Code(s):	152300
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.050

ABSTRACT

People have been studying the Sun for hundreds of years and drawing maps of what they see, the earliest dating back almost 900 years. These hand-drawn maps of the solar surface have been invaluable for modern-day physicists to understand how the Sun changes over the decades. Between 1964 and 2009, Dr. Patrick McIntosh made his own carefully constructed maps of the Sun, documenting many interesting solar features and magnetic fields. However, since the last maps were made in 2009, McIntosh?s archive has languished and has not been updated. The purpose of this 3-year project is to use the latest space- and ground-based images of the Sun to reproduce the McIntosh?s techniques, update the archive through today, and develop tools for current machine learning algorithms to produce these maps going into the future.

All solar magnetic fields are fundamentally driven by an internal dynamo. To study this pervasive magnetic field, scientists rely on indirect measurements of visible plasma features at the surface that are produced by the evolving magnetic field. Large-scale atmospheric features, such as filaments, active regions, sunspots, polarity boundaries, and coronal holes are distinct signatures of the ever-changing dynamo. These visible features were captured by Dr. Patrick McIntosh from 1964 through 2009 in hand-drawn maps of the Sun. This 3-year project aims to preserve multiple decades of accumulated specialized knowledge of the Sun, thus opening up new avenues for studies of the solar cycle by linking the McIntosh-identified solar features to modern images of the Sun through reproducing his techniques with digital tools. The result of this effort is a new archive of solar maps to effectively extend the existing catalogue to cover solar cycle 24. The catalogue will be open for public download and well documented for supervised machine learning tools to take advantage of this unique labeled data representing over 55 years of solar measurements. The research and EPO agenda of this project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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