Authors: A.G. Kosovichev and the HMI Helioseismology Science Team
Affiliation: Stanford University
The SDO helioseismology program addresses the fundamental questions of the origin of the solar magnetic fields and the interior processes that drive short- and long-term solar activity and variability. It uncovers remarkable new perspectives for studying the complex interactions between highly turbulent convection, rotation and magnetism, their relationship to solar irradiance variations and coronal activity, and also provides input data, physical background and innovative approaches for space weather research and forecast. The tools that will be used in the SDO/HMI program include: the classical global helioseismology analysis of the internal rotation, stratification and asphericity, with significantly better resolution of the near-surface shear layer, essential for understanding the solar cycle, and new local-area helioseismology techniques that provide 3-D maps of emerging magnetic structures and convective flows shearing and twisting the magnetic fields, and displacing the photospheric footpoints of magnetic structures present in the corona, causing reconnections and eruptions. We discuss the current status, perspectives, plans and requirements of the helioseismology program.