Aims. We design an event recognition-analysis system that can automatically detect solar type III radio burst and can mine information of the burst from the dynamic spectra observed by Nançay Decameter Array (NDA). We investigate the frequency drift rate of type III bursts and the speed of electron beams responsible for the generation of the bursts. Methods. Several computer vision methods are used in this automatic analysis system. The Hough transform is performed to recognize the line segment associated with type III bursts in the dynamic spectra. A modified active contour model is used to track the backbone of the burst and estimate the frequency drift rate at different frequency channels. We run this system on the NDA data from 2012 to 2017, and give a statistical survey of the event number distribution, the starting and stopping frequencies of bursts, the frequency dependence of the drift rate, and the exciter speed using three corona density models. Results. The median value of the average frequency drift rates is about 6.94 MHz s⁻¹ for 1389 simple well-isolated type III bursts detected in the frequency range 10–80 MHz of NDA observation. The frequency drift rate changes with frequency as d f/dt = −0.0672 f^1.23 from a least-squares fitting. The average exciter speed is about 0.2c based the density models. We do not find any significant dependence of the drift rate and the exciter speed on the solar activity cycle.

Magnetic reconnection preferentially takes place at the intersection of two separatrices or two quasi-separatrix layers, which can be quantified by the squashing factor Q, whose calculation is computationally expensive due to the need to trace as many field lines as possible. We developed a method (FastQSL) optimized for obtaining Q and the twist number in a 3D data cube. FastQSL utilizes the hardware acceleration of the graphics processing unit and adopts a step-size adaptive scheme for the most computationally intensive part: tracing magnetic field lines. As a result, it achieves a computational efficiency of 4.53 million Q values per second. FastQSL is open source, and user-friendly for data import, export, and visualization.

On 2024 May 10–11, the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2003 November occurred, with a peak Dst index of −412 nT. The storm was caused by NOAA active region (AR) 13664, which was the source of a large number of coronal mass ejections and flares, including 12 X-class flares. Starting from about May 7, AR 13664 showed a steep increase in its size and (free) magnetic energy, along with increased flare activity. In this study, we perform 3D magnetic field extrapolations with the NF2 nonlinear force-free code based on physics-informed neural networks (R. Jarolim et al.). In addition, we introduce the computation of the vector potential to achieve divergence-free solutions. We extrapolate vector magnetograms from the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager at the full 12 minute cadence from 2024 May 5 00:00 to 11 04:36 UT, in order to understand the AR’s magnetic evolution and the large eruptions it produced. A decrease in the calculated relative free magnetic energy can be related to solar flares in ∼90% of the cases, and all considered X-class flares are reflected by a decrease in the relative free magnetic energy. Regions of enhanced free magnetic energy and depleted magnetic energy between the start and end times of major X-class flares show spatial alignment with brightness increases in extreme-ultraviolet observations. We provide a detailed analysis of the X3.9-class flare on May 10, where we show that the interaction between separated magnetic domains is directly linked to major flaring events. With this study, we provide a comprehensive data set of the magnetic evolution of AR 13664 and make it publicly available for further analysis.

A second peak in the extreme ultraviolet sometimes appears during the gradual phase of solar flares, which is known as the EUV late phase (ELP). Stereotypically ELP is associated with two separated sets of flaring loops with distinct sizes, and it has been debated whether ELP is caused by additional heating or extended plasma cooling in the longer loop system. Here we carry out a survey of 55 M-and-above GOES-class flares with ELP during 2010–2014. Based on the flare-ribbon morphology, these flares are categorized as circular-ribbon (19 events), two-ribbon (23 events), and complex-ribbon (13 events) flares. Among them, 22 events (40%) are associated with coronal mass ejections, while the rest are confined. An extreme ELP, with the late-phase peak exceeding the main-phase peak, is found in 48% of two-ribbon flares, 37% of circular-ribbon flares, and 31% of complex-ribbon flares, suggesting that additional heating is more likely present during ELP in two-ribbon than in circular-ribbon flares. Overall, cooling may be the dominant factor causing the delay of the ELP peak relative to the main-phase peak, because the loop system responsible for the ELP emission is generally larger than, and well separated from, that responsible for the main-phase emission. All but one of the circular-ribbon flares can be well explained by a composite “dome–plate” quasi-separatrix layer (QSL). Only half of these show a magnetic null point, with its fan and spine embedded in the dome and plate, respectively. The dome–plate QSL, therefore, is a general and robust structure characterizing circular-ribbon flares.

The observed features of the radio source indicate that the waves of solar radio bursts are convoluted with complex propagation effects. In this work, we perform ray-tracing simulations on radio wave transport in the corona and interplanetary region with anisotropic electron density fluctuations. For the first time, the variation of the apparent source size, burst duration, and source position for the fundamental emission and harmonic emission at the frequency of 35 MHz are simulated as a function of the anisotropic parameter α and the angular scattering rate coefficient η = ϵ ²/h ₀, where ϵ ² = 〈δ n ²〉/n ² is the density fluctuation level and h ₀ is its correlation length near the wave excitation site. It is found that isotropic fluctuations produce a much larger decay time than a highly anisotropic fluctuation for fundamental emission. By comparing the observed duration and source size with the simulation results in the parameter space, we can estimate the scattering coefficient and the anisotropic parameter η = 8.9 × 10⁻⁵ km⁻¹ and α = 0.719 with a point pulse source assumption. Position offsets due to wave scattering and refraction can produce the co-spatial of the fundamental and harmonic waves in the observation of some type III radio bursts. The visual speed due to the wave propagation effect can reach 1.5c for η = 2.4 × 10⁻⁴ km⁻¹ and α = 0.2 for the fundamental emission in the sky plane, accompanied with large expansion rate of the source size. The direction of the visual speed is mostly identical to the direction of the offset, thus, for the observation aimed at obtaining the source position, the source centroid at the starting time is closer to the wave excitation site.

Context. Solar radio bursts originate mainly from high energy electrons accelerated in solar eruptions like solar flares, jets, and coronal mass ejections. A sub-category of solar radio bursts with short time duration may be used as a proxy to understand wave generation and propagation within the corona. Aims. Complete case studies of the source size, position, and kinematics of short term bursts are very rare due to instrumental limitations. A comprehensive multi-frequency spectroscopic and imaging study was carried out of a clear example of a solar type IIIb-III pair. Methods. In this work, the source of the radio burst was imaged with the interferometric mode, using the remote baselines of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR). A detailed analysis of the fine structures in the spectrum and of the radio source motion with imaging was conducted. Results. The study shows how the fundamental and harmonic components have a significantly different source motion. The apparent source of the fundamental emission at 26.56 MHz displaces away from the solar disk center at about four times the speed of light, while the apparent source of the harmonic emission at the same frequency shows a speed of < 0.02 c. The source size of the harmonic emission observed in this case is smaller than that in previous studies, indicating the importance of the use of remote baselines.