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Register a new userEvidence for Energy Supply by Active Region Spicules to the Solar Atmosphere
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We investigate the role of active region spicules in the mass balance of the solar wind and energy supply for heating the solar atmosphere. We use high cadence observations from the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard the Hinode satellite in the Ca II H line filter obtained on 26 January 2007. The observational technique provides the high spatio-temporal resolution required to detect fine structures such as spicules. We apply Fourier power spectrum and wavelet analysis to SOT/Hinode time series of an active region data to explore the existence of coherent intensity oscillations. The presence of coherent waves could be an evidence for energy transport to heat the solar atmosphere. Using time series, we measure the phase difference between two intensity profiles obtained at two different heights, which gives information about the phase difference between oscillations at those heights as a function of frequency. The results of a fast Fourier transform (FFT) show peaks in the power spectrum at frequencies in the range from 2 to 8 mHz at four different heights (above the limb), while the wavelet analysis indicate dominant frequencies similar to those of the Fourier power spectrum results. A coherency study indicates the presence of coherent oscillations at about 5.5 mHz (3 min). We measure mean phase speeds in the range 250 to 425 km/s increasing with height.
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Solar spicules have eluded modelers and observers for decades. Since the discovery of the more energetic type II, spicules have become a heated topic but their contribution to the energy balance of the low solar atmosphere remains unknown. Here we give a first glimpse of what quiet Sun spicules look like when observed with NASAs recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Using IRIS spectra and filtergrams that sample the chromosphere and transition region we compare the properties and evolution of spicules as observed in a coordinated campaign with Hinode and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Our IRIS observations allow us to follow the thermal evolution of type II spicules and finally confirm that the fading of Ca II H spicules appears to be caused by rapid heating to higher temperatures. The IRIS spicules do not fade but continue evolving, reaching higher and falling back down after 500-800 s. Ca II H type II spicules are thus the initial stages of violent and hotter events that mostly remain invisible in Ca II H filtergrams. These events have very different properties from type I spicules, which show lower velocities and no fading from chromospheric passbands. The IRIS spectra of spicules show the same signature as their proposed disk counterparts, reinforcing earlier work. Spectroheliograms from spectral rasters also confirm that quiet Sun spicules originate in bushes from the magnetic network. Our results suggest that type II spicules are indeed the site of vigorous heating (to at least transition region temperatures) along extensive parts of the upward moving spicular plasma.
Both coronal holes and active regions are source regions of the solar wind. The distribution of these coronal structures across both space and time is well known, but it is unclear how much each source contributes to the solar wind. In this study we use photospheric magnetic field maps observed over the past four solar cycles to estimate what fraction of magnetic open solar flux is rooted in active regions, a proxy for the fraction of all solar wind originating in active regions. We find that the fractional contribution of active regions to the solar wind varies between 30% to 80% at any one time during solar maximum and is negligible at solar minimum, showing a strong correlation with sunspot number. While active regions are typically confined to latitudes $pm$30$^{circ}$ in the corona, the solar wind they produce can reach latitudes up to $pm$60$^{circ}$. Their fractional contribution to the solar wind also correlates with coronal mass ejection rate, and is highly variable, changing by $pm$20% on monthly timescales within individual solar maxima. We speculate that these variations could be driven by coronal mass ejections causing reconfigurations of the coronal magnetic field on sub-monthly timescales.
We compute for the first time magnetic helicity and energy spectra of the solar active region NOAA 11158 during 11-15 February 2011 at 20^o southern heliographic latitude using observational photospheric vector magnetograms. We adopt the isotropic representation of the Fourier-transformed two-point correlation tensor of the magnetic field. The sign of magnetic helicity turns out to be predominantly positive at all wavenumbers. This sign is consistent with what is theoretically expected for the southern hemisphere. The magnetic helicity normalized to its theoretical maximum value, here referred to as relative helicity, is around 4% and strongest at intermediate wavenumbers of k ~ 0.4 Mm^{-1}, corresponding to a scale of 2pi/k ~ 16 Mm. The same sign and a similar value are also found for the relative current helicity evaluated in real space based on the vertical components of magnetic field and current density. The modulus of the magnetic helicity spectrum shows a k^{-11/3} power law at large wavenumbers, which implies a k^{-5/3} spectrum for the modulus of the current helicity. A k^{-5/3} spectrum is also obtained for the magnetic energy. The energy spectra evaluated separately from the horizontal and vertical fields agree for wavenumbers below 3 Mm^{-1}, corresponding to scales above 2 Mm. This gives some justification to our assumption of isotropy and places limits resulting from possible instrumental artefacts at small scales.
Determining the magnetic field of solar spicules is vital for developing adequate models of these plasma jets, which are thought to play a key role in the thermal, dynamic, and magnetic structure of the chromosphere. Here we report on magnetic spicule properties in a very quiet region of the off-limb solar atmosphere, as inferred from new spectropolarimetric observations in the HeI 10830 A triplet. We have used a novel inversion code for Stokes profiles caused by the joint action of atomic level polarization and the Hanle and Zeeman effects (HAZEL) to interpret the observations. Magnetic fields as strong as 40G were unambiguously detected in a very localized area of the slit, which may represent a possible lower value of the field strength of organized network spicules.
The problem of solar chromospheric heating remains a challenging one with wider implications for stellar physics. Several studies in the recent past have shown that small-scale inclined magnetic field elements channel copious amount of energetic low-frequency acoustic waves, that are normally trapped below the photosphere. These magneto-acoustic waves are expected to shock at chromospheric heights contributing to chromospheric heating. In this work, exploiting simultaneous photospheric vector magnetic field, Doppler, continuum and line-core intensity (of FeI 6173 {AA}) observations from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and lower-atmospheric UV emission maps in the 1700 {AA} and 1600 {AA} channels of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), both onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) of NASA, we revisit the relationships between magnetic field properties (inclination and strength) and the acoustic wave propagation (phase travel time). We find that the flux of acoustic energy, in the 2 - 5 mHz frequency range, between the upper photosphere and lower chromosphere is in the range of 2.25 - 2.6 kW m$^{-2}$, which is about twice the previous estimates. We identify that the relatively less-inclined magnetic field elements in the quiet-Sun channel a significant amount of waves of frequency lower than the theoretical minimum for acoustic cut-off frequency due to magnetic inclination. We also derive indications that these waves steepen and start to dissipate within the heights ranges probed, while those let out due to inclined magnetic fields pass through. We explore connections with existing theoretical and numerical results that could explain the origin of these waves.
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