Quantitative Analysis of Net Magnetic Flux and Morphological Structure of Magnetic Field Features
Abstract
The solar photosphere contains a huge amount of small-scale magnetic flux. However, this small-scale flux remains unresolved due to observational limitations. We investigated the net magnetic flux below the threshold where instruments are unable to observe due to noise and magnetic polarity cancellation. To overcome this, we used SDO/HMI observations with the newly established SoFT (Solar Flux Tracker) algorithm, which employs a watershed segmentation method. We obtained a net baseline flux of (1.65±0.11)×1020 Mx. A net imbalance of -19.69% was found from 49 features, of which 21 have positive polarity and 28 have negative polarity. Morphological analysis revealed a mean eccentricity of 0.423 and a mean circularity of 1.017, indicating predominantly round features characteristic of young, emerging flux. These findings demonstrate the capability of the SoFT watershed segmentation algorithm to study hidden magnetic flux below the detection threshold. Future high-resolution observations with next-generation telescopes will help overcome the limitations in characterizing small-scale magnetic fields in the solar photosphere.
Citation Information
@article{baharuketema2026,
title={Quantitative Analysis of Net Magnetic Flux and Morphological Structure of Magnetic Field Features},
author={Baharu Ketema and Nagessa Tilahun and Abbi seyoum},
journal={Research Square},
year={2026},
doi={https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9481401/v1}
}
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