A focused international science team

on Waves in the Lower Solar Atmosphere

holding a wealth of experience
in
observations. instrument design. wave theory. numerical simulations. spectro-polarimetric signatures. radiative-transfer processes.

Scientific Rationale Publications

Science Objectives

Obtaining a comprehensive picture of wave activity in the lower solar atmosphere.

Team Members

A truly international team with diverse expertise in the field of MHD waves.

Outreach

Promoting the WaLSA-related activities to a wide range of worldwide audience.

Mysterious heating of the Sun’s atmosphere:
wave activity as a prime agent

How is the Sun’s outer atmosphere so darn hot?
Oscillations, in the form of slow/fast magneto-acoustic and Alfvén waves, are often presented as a principal component in transferring vast quantities of energy flux into the solar chromosphere and corona.

Research on the wave activity is highly dominated by those in the corona. As a result, there is less focus on the complexities associated with interpreting MHD wave phenomena in the solar photosphere and chromosphere.

The WaLSA Team focuses on challenges faced in wave studies in the lower solar atmosphere.

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A team with lots of experience
researching wave dynamics

The team members are worldwide leading experts in the field and have published hundereds of scientific articles linked to wave activity in the lower solar atmosphere.

Diverse expertise

Aligned objectives

Balanced disciplines

Complementary experience

Research Illustrations

Large scale coherent magnetohydrodynamic oscillations in a sunspot

Nature Communications, 2022, 13, 479

Discovery of several wave modes (i.e., more than 30 eigenmodes) coexisting within a large sunspot from observations, supported by theoretical models.

A chromospheric resonance cavity in a sunspot mapped with seismology

Nature Astronomy, 2020, 4, 220

Resonance cavity (the pink isocontours) observations above a sunspot, amplifying propagating magentic waves in the lower solar atmosphere.

Transverse oscillations in slender Ca II H fibrils observed with Sunrise/SuFI

Astrophysical Journal Supl. Ser., 2017, 229, 9

Transverse-wave propagations in slender bright fibrils near a small solar active region, carrying a vast amount of energy in to the low solar chromosphere.

Photospheric observations of surface and body modes in solar magnetic pores

Astrophysical Journal, 2018, 857, 28

Direct evidence of surface and body wave modes in numerous pores, implying how these modes transfer energy from the waveguide to the surrounding plasm.

Public Engagement
advancing mutual learning

The WaLSA Team interactively engages with the public about its activitiy and science. This hopefully creates opportunities for learning, developing new skills, gaining new insights or ideas, developing better research, raising aspiration, or being inspired.

More on outreach activities

Awards and financial supports
gratefully acknowledged

2020

ISSI International Team

The WaLSA Team was selected as an International Space Science Institute (ISSI) Team, providing a distinguished grant and facilities to hold a series of two to three one-week team meetings at ISSI in Bern, Switzerland.

Funding period:

2019

The Royal Society's Award

The Hooke Committee of The Royal Society (of UK) awarded the WaLSA Team a prestigious grant to host a Theo Murphy meeting at Chicheley Hall (home of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre).

Funding period:

2018

Rosseland's Team

The WaLSA Team received a generous grant from the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence scheme (the Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics, RoCS) to host two team meeting in Oslo, Norway.

Funding period: