摘要:Context. Coloured noisy components with a power law spectral energy
distribution are often shown to appear in solar signals of various types. Such a
frequency-dependent noise may indicate the operation of various randomly distributed
dynamical processes in the solar atmosphere.
Aims. We develop a recipe for the correct usage of the empirical mode
decomposition (EMD) technique in the presence of coloured noise, allowing for clear
distinguishing between quasi-periodic oscillatory phenomena in the solar atmosphere and
superimposed random background processes. For illustration, we statistically investigate
extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission intensity variations observed with SDO/AIA in the
coronal (171 Å), chromospheric (304 Å), and upper photospheric (1600 Å) layers of the
solar atmosphere, from a quiet sun and a sunspot umbrae region.
Methods. EMD has been used for analysis because of its adaptive nature
and essential applicability to the processing non-stationary and amplitude-modulated time
series. For the comparison of the results obtained with EMD, we use the Fourier transform
technique as an etalon.
Results. We empirically revealed statistical properties of synthetic
coloured noises in EMD, and suggested a scheme that allows for the detection of noisy
components among the intrinsic modes obtained with EMD in real signals. Application of the
method to the solar EUV signals showed that they indeed behave randomly and could be
represented as a combination of different coloured noises characterised by a specific
value of the power law indices in their spectral energy distributions. On the other hand,
3-min oscillations in the analysed sunspot were detected to have energies significantly
above the corresponding noise level.
Conclusions. The correct accounting for the background
frequency-dependent random processes is essential when using EMD for analysis of
oscillations in the solar atmosphere. For the quiet sun region the power law index was
found to increase with height above the photosphere, indicating that the higher frequency
processes are trapped deeper in the quiet sun atmosphere. In contrast, lower levels of the
sunspot umbrae were found to be characterised by higher values of the power law index,
meaning the domination of lower frequencies deep inside the sunspot atmosphere. Comparison
of the EMD results with those obtained with the Fourier transform showed good consistency,
justifying the applicability of EMD.
关键词:Sun: atmosphere;Sun: photosphere;Sun: chromosphere;Sun: corona;sunspots;methods: data analysis