SHARP: Solar Active Region Magnetic Field Patches

SHARP (Space-weather HMI Active Region Patch) data series contain space-weather quantities and 31 data segments derived from photospheric vector magnetograms. The data segments include vector magnetic field components, line-of-sight magnetic field, continuum intensity, Doppler velocity, error maps, and bitmaps for automatically identified active region patches. The series is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and is updated every 12 minutes.

Use Cases

• Forecasting solar flares and coronal mass ejections based on vector magnetic field data
• Analyzing the evolution of solar active regions based on time-series data updated every 12 minutes
• Studying correlations between magnetic field strength and continuum intensity within active region patches
• Modeling space-weather impacts based on derived space-weather quantities stored as FITS header keywords

Strengths

• Data is updated every 12 minutes, providing high temporal resolution
• Contains 31 distinct data segments including vector magnetic field components and error maps
• Produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an authoritative source

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data segments are partial-disk patches, not full-disk observations

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Calculated from photospheric vector magnetogram data from the HMI instrument.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 11:35:30.241130; freshness should be verified

Geography

Solar disk (partial-disk patches)