Understanding the Consequences Of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun (COFFIES)

The solar activity cycle is the Consequence Of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun (COFFIES). As a Phase-1 NASA DRIVE Science Center (DSC), COFFIES ultimately aims to develop a data-driven model of solar activity. To attain this goal COFFIES members are learning to work together effectively to perform the investigations needed to answer five primary science questions:

1) What drives varying large-scale motions in the Sun?

2) How do flows interact with the magnetic field to cause varying activity cycles?

3) Why do active regions emerge when and where they do?

4) What do the manifestations of activity and convection reveal about the internal processes?

5) How does our understanding of the Sun as a star inform us more generally about activity dynamics and structure?

The virtual COFFIES center brings together a broad spectrum of observers, data analysts, theorists, computational scientists, and educators who collaborate through interacting working groups of four principal science teams. The principal objectives of the four primary science teams are to 1) understand the generation of quasi-periodic stellar magnetic cycles, 2) further develop 3D physical models of interior dynamics and convection, 3) establish clear physical links between solar flow fields and near-surface observations, and 4) develop more robust helioseismic techniques to resolve solar interior flows. Additional cross-team activities are facilitated by teams for numerical modeling, center effectiveness, outreach and eduction, and diversity, equity, inclusion and access (DEIA).