COFFIES is a NASA-funded Phase II DRIVE Science Center with the goal of solving some of the most difficult mysteries hidden in the deep interior of our Sun. COFFIES is working to establish a multi-institution collaboration to develop the most reliable data driven physical model of solar activity possible.

Solar and stellar dynamos stem from the complex interaction of the magnetic field with small- and large-scale flows within their interiors. A Consequence Of Fields and Flows in the Interior and Exterior of the Sun (COFFIES) is the roughly 11-year quasi-periodic magnetic activity cycle. This varying magnetic field drives space weather and the dynamic environment in which the Earth resides, and therefore an understanding of this variability, leading ultimately to reliable forecasts, is of paramount importance. Yet despite improved observations and years of theoretical modeling efforts, it is still not well understood how the Sun generates, replenishes, and maintains the magnetic field that creates the observed characteristics of the solar cycle, i.e., how the Sun’s dynamo operates. Our Center aims to transform this understanding, cited as the first science challenge posed in the 2013 Decadal Survey.

Find out more: coffies.stanford.edu