Helioseismology -- Future Questions

Global network of ground observatories is needed to provide the temporal coverage essential to answering future questions in helioseismology. This figure is a map of the 6 observatories that are part of the GONG (Global Oscillation Network Group) network constructed to provide this temporal coverage. The GONG project is funded by the National Science Foundation through the National Solar Observatory, a division of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated under a cooperative agreement between the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the NSF.

Future questions include:
- Resolution of internal flows (e.g., those associated with giant convection cells). The first results from space on this question are already coming in from the SOHO/MDI experiment.
- Resolution of structures associated with magnetic field variations
- Resolution of assymmetries in the internal temperature structure.
To obtain observations with high enough precision to make progress on these issues requires long uninterrupted (by bad weather or night time) views of the sun. Trying to obtain these views by two methods:
- Observing oscillations from space currently through the SOHO spacecraft SOI/MDI and GOLF investigations
- creating chains of Earth-based telescopes that circle the globe and follow the sun as the Earth rotates called the GONG project

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