A machine-learning approach to correcting atmospheric seeing in solar flare observations

Armstrong, J. A. and Fletcher, L. (2021) A machine-learning approach to correcting atmospheric seeing in solar flare observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501(2), pp. 2647-2658. (doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa3742)

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Abstract

Current post-processing techniques for the correction of atmospheric seeing in solar observations – such as Speckle interferometry and Phase Diversity methods – have limitations when it comes to their reconstructive capabilities of solar flare observations. This, combined with the sporadic nature of flares meaning observers cannot wait until seeing conditions are optimal before taking measurements, means that many ground-based solar flare observations are marred with bad seeing. To combat this, we propose a method for dedicated flare seeing correction based on training a deep neural network to learn to correct artificial seeing from flare observations taken during good seeing conditions. This model uses transfer learning, a novel technique in solar physics, to help learn these corrections. Transfer learning is when another network already trained on similar data is used to influence the learning of the new network. Once trained, the model has been applied to two flare data sets: one from AR12157 on 2014 September 6 and one from AR12673 on 2017 September 6. The results show good corrections to images with bad seeing with a relative error assigned to the estimate based on the performance of the model. Further discussion takes place of improvements to the robustness of the error on these estimates.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Armstrong, Mr John and Fletcher, Professor Lyndsay
Authors: Armstrong, J. A., and Fletcher, L.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Journal Name:Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher:Oxford University Press
ISSN:0035-8711
ISSN (Online):1365-2966
Published Online:03 December 2020
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2020 The Authors
First Published:First published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 501(2): 2647-2658
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy
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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
301388STFC Glasgow 2017 DTPMartin HendryScience and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)ST/R504750/1P&S - Physics & Astronomy
173869Consolidated Grant in Solar PhysicsLyndsay FletcherScience and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)ST/P000533/1P&S - Physics & Astronomy
306515PHAS A&A Group STFC ConsolidatedLyndsay FletcherScience and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)ST/T000422/1P&S - Physics & Astronomy