Scientific Colloquium
February 24, 2016, 3:30 p.m., Building 3
Auditorium
HOLLY GILBERT
GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT
CENTER
"Fifty Shades of Magnetism -
The Secret Life of Solar Prominences"
Solar prominences are large
impressive loop-like structures suspended above the solar
surface that provide a glimpse into the magnetic environment
that supports them. Although these structures have been studied
for decades, scientists still struggle to fully understand every
aspect of their lifecycle: formation, dynamic behavior during
existence, and eruption. After existing for days or weeks,
prominences exhibit a range of eruptive-like dynamic activity,
ranging from the full or partial eruption of the partially
ionized mass and surrounding magnetic structure as a coronal
mass ejection (CME), to a fully confined dynamic evolution or
‘failed’ eruption. I’ll discuss research in the prominence
lifecycle and how the synergy between observations and modeling
is driving prominence research. I will highlight the importance
of missions like SOHO, SDO, and STEREO which have provided a
wealth of data allowing scientists to investigate the magnetic
nature of prominences and how they are connected with other
dynamic activity in the surrounding atmosphere (e.g., CMEs).
About the Speaker:
Dr. Holly Gilbert is Deputy Division Director of the
Heliophysics Science Division (HSD) at NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center. She arrived at Goddard in 2008 as the HSD
Associate Director for Science and prior to becoming Deputy
Division Director, she was Chief of the Solar Physics
Laboratory. She obtained a BS in physics from the University of
Colorado, Boulder and her PhD in theoretical astrophysics from
the University of Oslo in Norway. Prior to joining NASA, Holly
was a Research Scientist at Rice University and an Associate
Scientist at the High Altitude Observatory at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research.
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