In their last two monthly meetings, the Hinode Science Schedule
Coordinators and PI's have decided that all HOP support will be
suspended in the event of a "Major Flare Watch" being issued by the
Max Millenium Flare watch web site. If a major flare watch is called,
any HOP scheduled for support during the period of the flare watch
will be rescheduled. The target for Hinode will be the Active Region
identified for the flare watch, and the observing programs will be the
core Hinode flare observations, and the Hinode instruments will be
operated with the baseline flare programs listed on the website:
http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/solar/hinode_op/flare_observation/Hinode_AR_FL_obs_plan.htm
Note that details of the baseline programs are subjects to change
without notice. Alternate programs may be directed by the PI's of the
instruments. Normal HOP support will resume when the flare watch has
expired.
The Chief Planner and Chief Observers may also suspend normal HOP support if a sufficiently interesting target of opportunity (TOO) for an identified TOO HOP appears. Such targets might be a flaring active region that does not quite meet the standards for a major flare alert, a newly emerging active region, a large filament or prominence, etc. Factors to be considered in making this decision in the daily meeting include: uniqueness and priority of the normally scheduled observations, frequency of occurrence of similar TOOs, weather and seeing conditions at ground based observatories, availability of telemetry, length of time the TOO HOP has been waiting to be run, etc. When this decision is made, the COs should explain the reasons for the changes in their daily plan announcements and should refer questions about the plan to the SSCs and PIs.
Hinode also runs long term synoptic HOPs at regular intervals, such as HOPs 79, 81, 131, and 146. These HOPs may need to be rescheduled in the event of a major flare watch or other active sun conditions. HOP 79 has been updated to reflect with what "frequency" the HOP should be run and how flare watches and schedule conflicts can be addressed. HOP 81 also can be rescheduled by +/- 2-3 days to accommodate active region and flare studies. The Chief Planner and Chief Observers should refer to all the HOP descriptions for guidance on how to accommodate active sun conditions.