Assessing the uncertainty of coronal hole boundary locations

The ambient solar wind flows, and the magnetic fields embedded within it, are driven by the Sun's magnetic field. Thus, studying the magnetic field configuration in the solar atmosphere is of key importance for improving understanding and ultimately predicting Earth's space weather environment. The configuration of open magnetic field lines, commonly known as coronal holes, is especially important for predicting key properties in the interplanetary space such as solar wind bulk speed, magnetic field strength, and field orientation. In addition, the dynamic evolution of coronal hole boundaries is understood as having a critical role in the origin of the slow solar wind. Despite the importance of these features there has been no systematic analysis of the reliability of established coronal hole detection techniques. The objectives of this action team are threefold: First, to study and compare different coronal hole detection techniques with open communication with the space weather community. Second, to develop strategies to quantitatively assess the spatial and temporal uncertainty of coronal hole boundary locations. Third, to use this information to further improve the predictive capabilities of numerical models of the evolving ambient solar wind. We will discuss challenges towards the realization of these objectives and present the current status and the roadmap of the action team.