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Register a new userPropagating waves in polar coronal holes as seen by SUMER and EIS
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To study the dynamics of coronal holes and the role of waves in the acceleration of the solar wind, spectral observations were performed over polar coronal hole regions with the SUMER spectrometer on SoHO and the EIS spectrometer on Hinode. Using these observations, we aim to detect the presence of propagating waves in the corona and to study their properties. The observations analysed here consist of SUMER spectra of the Ne VIII 770 A line (T = 0.6 MK) and EIS slot images in the Fe XII 195 A line (T = 1.3 MK). Using the wavelet technique, we study line radiance oscillations at different heights from the limb in the polar coronal hole regions. We detect the presence of long period oscillations with periods of 10 to 30 min in polar coronal holes. The oscillations have an amplitude of a few percent in radiance and are not detectable in line-of-sight velocity. From the time distance maps we find evidence for propagating velocities from 75 km/s (Ne VIII) to 125 km/s (Fe XII). These velocities are subsonic and roughly in the same ratio as the respective sound speeds. We interpret the observed propagating oscillations in terms of slow magneto-acoustic waves. These waves can be important for the acceleration of the fast solar wind.
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We present the first Hinode/EIS observations of 5 min quasi-periodic oscillations detected in a transition-region line (He II) and five coronal lines (Fe X, Fe XII, Fe XIII, Fe XIV, and Fe XV) at the footpoint of a coronal loop. The oscillations exist throughout the whole observation, characterized by a series of wave packets with nearly constant period, typically persisting for 4-6 cycles with a lifetime of 20-30 min. There is an approximate in-phase relation between Doppler shift and intensity oscillations. This provides evidence for slow magnetoacoustic waves propagating upwards from the transition region into the corona. We find that the oscillations detected in the five coronal lines are highly correlated, and the amplitude decreases with increasing temperature. The amplitude of Doppler shift oscillations decrease by a factor of about 3, while that of relative intensity decreases by a factor of about 4 from Fe X to Fe XV. These oscillations may be caused by the leakage of the photospheric p-modes through the chromosphere and transition region into the corona, which has been suggested as the source for intensity oscillations previously observed by TRACE. The temperature dependence of the oscillation amplitudes can be explained by damping of the waves traveling along the loop with multithread structure near the footpoint. Thus, this property may have potential value for coronal seismology in diagnostic of temperature structure in a coronal loop.
We report the first observation of multiple-periodic propagating disturbances along a fan-like coronal structure simultaneously detected in both intensity and Doppler shift in the Fe XII 195 A line with the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) onboard Hinode. A new application of coronal seismology is provided based on this observation. We analyzed the EIS sit-and-stare mode observation of oscillations using the running difference and wavelet techniques. Two harmonics with periods of 12 and 25 min are detected. We measured the Doppler shift amplitude of 1-2 km/s, the relative intensity amplitude of 3%-5% and the apparent propagation speed of 100-120 km/s. The amplitude relationship between intensity and Doppler shift oscillations provides convincing evidence that these propagating features are a manifestation of slow magnetoacoustic waves. Detection lengths (over which the waves are visible) of the 25 min wave are about 70-90 Mm, much longer than those of the 5 min wave previously detected by TRACE. This difference may be explained by the dependence of damping length on the wave period for thermal conduction. Based on a linear wave theory, we derive an inclination of the magnetic field to the line-of-sight about 59$pm$8 deg, a true propagation speed of 128$pm$25 km/s and a temperature of 0.7$pm$0.3 MK near the loops footpoint from our measurements.
Coronal holes are well accepted to be source regions of the fast solar wind. As one of the common structures in coronal holes, coronal plumes might contribute to the origin of the nascent solar wind. To estimate the contribution of coronal plumes to the nascent solar wind, we make the first attempt to estimate their populations in solar polar coronal holes. By comparing the observations viewed from two different angles taken by the twin satellites of STEREO and the results of Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate about 16--27 plumes rooted in an area of $4times10^4$ arcsec$^2$ of the polar coronal holes near the solar minimum, which occupy about 2--3.4% of the area. Based on these values, the contribution of coronal plumes to the nascent solar wind has also been discussed. A further investigation indicates that more precise number of coronal plumes can be worked out with observations from three or more viewing angles.
We examine the dynamical behavior of white light polar plume structures in the inner corona that are observed from the ground during total solar eclipses, based on their EUV hot and cool emission line counterparts observed from space. EUV observations from SDO/AIA of a sequence of rapidly varying coronal hole structures are analyzed. Evidence of events showing acceleration in the 1.25 Mk line of Fe XII at 193 A is given. The structures along the plume show an outward velocity of about 140 kms-1 that can be interpreted as an upwards propagating wave in the 304 A and 171 A lines; higher speeds are seen in 193 A (up to 1000 km/s). The ejection of the cold He II plasma is delayed by about 4 min in the lowest layer and more than 12 min in the highest level compared to the hot 193 A behavior. A study of the dynamics using time-slice diagrams reveals that a large amount of fast ejected material originates from below the plume, at the footpoints. The release of plasma material appears to come from a cylinder with quasi-parallel edge-enhanced walls. After the initial phase of a longitudinal acceleration, the speed substantially reduces and the ejecta disperse into the environment. Finally, the detailed temporal and spatial relationships between the cool and hot components were studied with simultaneous multi-wavelength observations, using more AIA data. The outward-propagating perturbation of the presumably magnetic walls of polar plumes supports the suggestion that Alfven waves propagate outwardly along these radially extended walls.
The heating of the solar chromosphere and corona to the observed high temperatures, imply the presence of ongoing heating that balances the strong radiative and thermal conduction losses expected in the solar atmosphere. It has been theorized for decades that the required heating mechanisms of the chromospheric and coronal parts of the active regions, quiet-Sun, and coronal holes are associated with the solar magnetic fields. However, the exact physical process that transport and dissipate the magnetic energy which ultimately leads to the solar plasma heating are not yet fully understood. The current understanding of coronal heating relies on two main mechanism: reconnection and MHD waves that may have various degrees of importance in different coronal regions. In this review we focus on recent advances in our understanding of MHD wave heating mechanisms. First, we focus on giving an overview of observational results, where we show that different wave modes have been discovered in the corona in the last decade, many of which are associated with a significant energy flux, either generated in situ or pumped from the lower solar atmosphere. Afterwards, we summarise the recent findings of numerical modelling of waves, motivated by the observational results. Despite the advances, only 3D MHD models with Alfven wave heating in an unstructured corona can explain the observed coronal temperatures compatible with the quiet Sun, while 3D MHD wave heating models including cross-field density structuring are not yet able to account for the heating of coronal loops in active regions to their observed temperature.
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