CAOSP abstracts, Volume: 41, No.: 2, year: 2011

Abstract: Helioseismology is the only possibility to probe the conditions inside the Sun, which advances our understanding of the solar structure and the Sun's influence on the Earth. The field of helioseismology has been developing rapidly since the 1980s thanks to dedicated projects like the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG). The field is now about to take a giant leap forward with the successful launches of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the PICARD mission with vastly better spatial and temporal resolution. This now allows to make use of the full potential of local and global helioseismology techniques to study inhomogeneities in the solar interior which are connected to solar dynamo action. In addition, new ground-based instruments are being developed for complementing in unique ways the space observations by establishing physical relationships between internal solar properties and magnetic activity in the solar atmosphere. This paper summarizes the new goals, possibilities, and prospects of helioseismology.