Measure the temporal duty cycle of photospheric KHI activity

Determine the temporal duty cycle and recurrence statistics of photospheric Kelvin–Helmholtz activity so that the instantaneous active-area fraction inferred from MURaM can be converted into a time-averaged heating contribution.

Background

The mean heat-flux estimate adopts an active-area fraction of 0.03 from a single MURaM snapshot and a 150-second characteristic evolution time. These quantities are not measured recurrence statistics, and the inferred coronal heating rate therefore depends on an unresolved temporal-averaging problem. Separating the fraction of sites capable of hosting KHI from the fraction of time those sites remain active would improve the energy-budget estimate.

References

Neither quantity has yet been constrained by DKIST. The resulting energy-flux bookkeeping is $$\rightarrow\xi_B\rightarrow\eta_{\rm up}\xi_B \rightarrow\eta_{\rm up}\xi_B$. Here $\xi_B$ is the shear-to-magnetic conversion, $\eta_{\rm up}$ is the survival and upward-transport factor, and $$ is the local reconnection heating fraction.

— Photospheric Kelvin--Helmholtz Vortices as Possible Drivers of Coronal Heating: Implications of the DKIST Observations  (2608.12796 - Nykyri, 13 Aug 2026) in Section 2, Observational Constraints and Magnetic Geometry; Section 4.4, Areal Heat Flux