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This year's annual scientific report proves once again that HAO is serving the nation's research community through a wide spectrum of basic research, various service functions and educational activities. The list of significant accomplishments ranges from community models like the TIME-GCM being further perfected, instrumentation buildup at Mauna Loa, hosting of new community workshops, exciting new observational analysis based on SOHO and ASP data, to a multitude of extraordinary scientific results gained by HAO scientists in collaboration with researchers enjoying the productive atmosphere at NCAR as part of a strong visitor program.
In FY 1997 the High Altitude Observatory took further steps to strengthen the ground-based observational program to study solar activity. The Mauna Loa Observatory was expanded to host one of the Precision Solar Photometry Telescopes of the SunRISE Program. The buildup of the Advanced Coronal Observing System (ACOS) continued with the installation of a new high quality H alpha instrument. While ACOS serves as an important set of tools for HAO's long-term basic research effort on coronal dynamics, it also contributes important datasets for the National Space Weather Program.
HAO's strong research program in solar seismology continued through activities of many staff scientists and through emphasis on this area in the visitor program. The data on the internal structure of the sun obtained with HAO's LOWL instrument was acknowledged as having made a breakthrough contribution to the solution of the solar neutrino problem. It is now clear that there is nothing wrong with the solar structure models, as they are based on the concepts of stellar evolution theory. Hence, the cause of the missing neutrinos must lie in the regime of particle physics and the nature of the neutrinos themselves. In connection with the most recent seismological results on the solar internal rotation (again from LOWL data, derived with novel genetic algorithm techniques) HAO theoretical physicists work on novel solar dynamo models that focus on the relatively narrow shear layer at the base of the convection zone which is now suspected to host the dynamo process.
HAO has engaged strongly in the exploitation of the very successful NASA/ESA SOHO satellite. The quality of the data from SOHO is superb, and it covers wide ranges of otherwise inaccessible data. HAO, as many others in the community, urge NASA and ESA to extend the SOHO mission to cover a solar cycle if that is technically possible.
HAO's upper atmosphere research program centered around the TIME-GCM and TIE-GCM numerical models and around the AMIE procedure to study events in the ionosphere and continues to produce a multitude of scientific results of great value for the CEDAR and GEM communities, for various NASA satellite projects and for space weather research. The history and success of the TIME-GCM is one of many examples where basic research at a national center pursued over a long timescale brings progress on the solution of the toughest problems and benefits the research community as a whole.
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