An information retrieval system for images from the trace satellite

Abstract

The ability to identify particular features and structures, such as faces or types of scenery in images, is a topic with many available applications and potential solutions. In this paper we discuss solar images and the results of our preliminary investigation of techniques that can be used to identify solar phenomena in images from the TRACE satellite. Being able to automatically identify various phenomena in solar images is of great interest for scientists studying phenomena on the sun. A set of characteristics that can be quickly extracted from solar images needs to be acquired. These characteristics are used to create classifiers for various phenomena contained in solar images. There are many obstacles that need to be overcome when extracting features and creating these classifiers. These include the inherent unbalanced data sets due to varying rates at which different phenomena appear and multiple phenomenon that could appear in each image. The classifiers that have been generated were used in the creation of an information retrieval system to make finding phenomenon solar images quick and easy.