The Paris Meudon ground based support to the NASA Solar Maximum Mission in the eighties

TL;DR

This paper discusses the role of the Paris Meudon Solar Tower in supporting NASA's Solar Maximum Mission during the 1980s through ground-based observations of solar magnetic and velocity fields.

Contribution

It details the specific contributions of the Meudon Solar Tower and magnetograph in providing vital magnetic and velocity field data during the solar maximum of cycle 21.

Findings

Provided key magnetic field measurements of the photosphere and chromosphere.

Supported coordinated observations with NASA's satellite instruments.

Enhanced understanding of solar activity during the 1980s.

Abstract

The Solar Maximum Mission of NASA was one of the first satellites with on board digitization of observations. It was launched for the solar maximum of cycle 21 (1980) in order to study the solar activity. It carried many instruments, such as coronagraphs, X and $\gamma$ ray detectors, an Ultra Violet spectrometer and a radiometer. Ground based support was offered by many institutes, such as Paris Meudon observatory under the form of systematic observations or coordinated campaigns with specific instruments. We present here the Meudon Solar Tower (MST) and magnetograph which offered in the eighties a major contribution with observations of velocity and magnetic fields of the photosphere and chromosphere, while SMM was observing the transition region and corona above.