Wednesday March 10

The first day of the workshop began with the usual hellos to old friends and new acquaintances. The meeting was opened with an introduction by Dr. Jean Claude Vial, the head of the solar division at the Institute. There were about 20 participants at the workshop which is a good number for actually accomplishing something. We were to split into three groups; one to study the flows in the active region, one to study the physical parameters of the active region such as temperature and density, and one to study the heating of the structures making up the active region. Following the introduction I was asked to present the summary of the November workshop. This gave an opportunity for the workshop participants to benefit from the work of the previous group of scientists on this active region. The most useful result was the mapping out of the coronal loops in 3D and the association of these loops with the active region magnetic field. This would allow us to relate the dynamical motions to the individually observed structures in AR8277.

Before the groups split up to work on their individual topics the group leaders were asked to present what they planned to work on. By this point I had had the time to think of a few ideas which I highlighted in the five minutes I was given. One of the most important components of a workshop like this is the ability for the participants to be flexible and to pursue what they regard as the most fruitful avenues. Fortunately, I had a good group and together we decided to investigate something different from what I had presented.

After lunch the individual groups met to decide what to do. My group was comprised of six people (2 French, 1 Hungarian, 1 Lebanese, an Englishman and a Scot). We opted for a plan which would study the motions of the magnetic field on the surface and try to relate that to the changes in brightness of the active region structures. We split into two sub-groups, one to tackle the magnetic field observations and one to look at the X-ray and Ultraviolet emission from the active region. This set the tone for the rest of the workshop.

That night I worked until 9 pm while everyone else went out to dinner. Progress had been slow because of problems with the computer system and I wanted to get something accomplished before going home for the night. I finally gave up and went back to the Industrial Park for some dinner.