On Solar Filament Detection Techniques: From Manual to Intelligent

Solar filaments (and their limb counterparts, prominences) are critical tracers of the Sun’s magnetic topology and key precursors to coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Precise identification and continuous tracking of these features are essential for understanding solar eruptive mechanisms and improving space weather forecasting. This systematic review evaluates the evolution of automated detection methodologies, addressing the challenge of processing the exponentially growing volume of high-resolution solar observations. We identify deep learning architectures, particularly U-Net variants and Mask R-CNN, as the most promising current paradigms. Compared to traditional image processing, these data-driven models demonstrate superior robustness against noise and variable observing conditions, achieving high-precision segmentation (>90% accuracy) with sub-second inference speeds. This leap in computational efficiency and accuracy directly facilitates real-time operational monitoring and enables large-scale statistical analysis of filament evolution across solar cycles. We conclude that future breakthroughs lie in developing physics-informed AI and standardized benchmarks to bridge the gap between pixel-level segmentation and physical interpretation, ultimately creating detection systems that are both operationally reliable and scientifically meaningful.