Solar Active Regions Detection Via 2D Circular Kernel Time Series Transformation, Entropy and Machine Learning Approach

This study proposes an enhancement to the existing method for detecting Solar Active Regions (ARs). Our technique tracks ARs using images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). It involves a 2D circular kernel time series transformation, combined with Statistical and Entropy measures, and a Machine Learning (ML) approach. The technique transforms the circular area around pixels in the SDO AIA images into one-dimensional time series (1-DTS). Statistical measures (Median Value, Xmed; 95th Percentile, X95) and Entropy measures (Distribution Entropy, DisEn; Fuzzy Entropy, FuzzyEn) are used as feature selection methods (FSM 1), alongside a method applying 1-DTS elements directly as features (FSM 2). The ML algorithm classifies these series into three categories: no Active Region (nARs type 1, class 1), non-flaring Regions outside active regions with brightness (nARs type 2, class 2), and flaring Active Regions (ARs, class 3). The ML model achieves a classification accuracy of 0.900 and 0.914 for Entropy and Statistical measures, respectively. Notably, Fuzzy Entropy shows the highest classification accuracy (AKF=0.895), surpassing DisEn (AKF=0.738), X95 (AKF=0.873), and Xmed (AKF=0.840). This indicates the high effectiveness of Entropy and Statistical measures for AR detection in SDO AIA images. FSM 2 captures a similar distribution of flaring AR activities as FSM 1. Additionally, we introduce a generalizing characteristic of AR activities (GSA), finding a direct agreement between increased AR activities and higher GSA values. The Python code implementation of the proposed method is available in supplementary material.