Wildlife near GONG station in Udaipur

Apparently, GONG is recognized as an important asset not only by solar scientists. Image on the left shows a curious puma poking out her head above bushes outside GONG fenced area. On the right, puma walks toward GONG area crossing observatory road.

 

GONG refurbishment project update

 

Last twelfth EVT camera, installed at one of the GONG engineering sites in Boulder, is currently being tested by the NISP group. This camera will upgrade the engineering sites or possibly will be deployed to Mauna Loa GONG site in Hawaii once construction of the road to the site that is currently in progress will be completed and engineering group will gain access to the site. The previously existed road was destroyed by the Mauna Loa volcano eruption on November 27, 2022, and since then the GONG site remains closed.

50th Anniversary of Udaipur Solar Observatory

This week (10-13 February 2026), an international conference dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) was held in Udaipur, India. NISP scientists delivered several presentations about the far side imaging (photo 1), magnetograph instruments for solar synoptic observations from ground and space (photo 2), and future ngGONG project. The conference participants were given a tour of GONG facilities (photo 3). USO personnel also identified possible sites for future ngGONG station. One of this sites is located on the island observatory part of USO. Photo 4 shows the island observatory illuminated at night as part of Golden jubilee of USO celebration.

 

  

GONG/ML - MLO Access Road Update

 The "pioneering" phase of the project has been completed by the construction contractor, and all of the permits for construction have been obtained. Road construction in earnest will start on February 10th! A final schedule is still pending.

 Pioneering phase photos from a helicopter overflight (a little fuzzy). Photos courtesy of Darryl Kuniyuki, NOAA Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory Station Lead.

GONG/ML - MLO Access Road Update

 

The road construction on the Mauna Loa Access road will begin in earnest next Tuesday, February 10th.  The construction is anticipated to last through the end of February, with access for the NOAA Mauna Loa crew resuming in early March.

NOAA does not have a public opening date or a definitive date for when power will be re-established at the site.

GML staff are currently developing comprehensive plans to safely and systematically re-open the Mauna Loa facility.

GONG/LE - Weather Event

 The GONG program in Boulder has received word from the staff at the Learmonth Solar Observatory of an incoming tropical low to the region. "There is currently tropical low 21U heading southwards down the west coast of Western Australia and it is predicted to hit Learmonth late Sunday / early Monday as a category 1 cyclone. The USAF (who maintain the site infrastructure here) are not planning to shut down mains power." https://www.bom.gov.au/warning/tropical-cyclone-forecast-track-map/IDW60281

 

Dynamics of Subsurface Flows in Solar Active Regions during the 2024 Gannon Storm

 In May 2024, the Sun produced a series of intense flares and CMEs, primarily from NOAA Active Regions (ARs) 13663 and 13664, which were visible on the solar disk at that time. The image shows a full-disk magnetogram from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory on May 6, 2024, highlighting both regions. While surface and coronal observations reveal much about these eruptions, active regions are rooted deep within the Sun. To explore the hidden dynamics beneath them, we use a local helioseismic technique that uses sound waves traveling through the solar interior to measure horizontal flows beneath these active regions.  

It is found that the flow divergence remained mostly negative throughout the observing period for all active regions, indicating that horizontal flows converge toward areas of strong magnetic field. It is also observed that the amplitudes of vorticity and kinetic helicity tended to increase before a series of flares occurred. After these flare episodes, the amplitudes decreased, only to rise again ahead of subsequent eruptions. This behavior was consistent across different depths below the surface, with deeper layers generally showing stronger signals. The Normalized Helicity Gradient Variance (NHGV), which captures how kinetic helicity varies with time and depth showed  that NHGV typically increased at least a day before flares. Notably, about 81% of the observed flares occurred either on the day NHGV reached a local  maximum or on the following day. Together, these results highlight the importance of subsurface dynamics in shaping the evolution and eruptive potential of solar active regions. 

This study was published in The Astrophysical Journal (Authors: B. Lekshmi, Sushanta Tripathy, Kiran Jain, and Alexei Pevtsov)  

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ade2e3