Automating Direct Observations of Transverse Waves in the Solar Corona

A multitude of MHD waves have been observed at a large range of scales in the solar atmosphere. According to theories and models, transverse (or "Alfvénic") waves are a viable mechanism for both heating and accelerating the solar wind and may also drive certain elemental fractionation processes in the chromosphere and corona. However, direct measurements of transverse waves in polar plumes (Thurgood et al. 2014) have raised some questions concerning the total energy carried by the waves and whether or not it is sufficient to be a primary driver of either solar wind heating or acceleration. In this work we build upon on the framework of Morton & McLaughlin (2013) and Thurgood et al. (2014) and extend the capabilities of the Northumbria University Wave Tracking (NUWT) code. In particular, we present an automated method of detecting and quantifying transverse waves in polar coronal holes. With the application of Fourier analysis methods, we investigate the superposition of multiple waves propagating along individual structures and, additionally, examine multi-variate relationships that may exist between wave parameters. We report the distributions of wave parameters for hundreds of waves observed using data from the 171 Å channel of SDO / AIA at select times throughout the solar cycle. Finally, we discuss how the measured average wave energy compares to theoretical predictions. The methods described in this research can be easily applied to other instruments, both space- and ground-based, and the observations of wave parameters and energetics place important constraints on wave-driven models of the solar corona.