Search

Coronal dimmings, localized regions of reduced emission in the EUV and soft X-rays, are interpreted as density depletions due to mass loss during the CME expansion. They contain crucial information on the early evolution of CMEs low in the corona. For 62 dimming events, characteristic parameters are derived, statistically analyzed and compared with basic flare quantities. On average, coronal dimmings have a size of $2.15\times10^{10}$ km$^{2}$, contain a total unsigned magnetic flux of $1.75\times10^{21}$ Mx, and show a total brightness decrease of $-1.91\times10^{6}$ DN, which results in a relative decrease of $\sim$60% compared to the pre-eruption intensity level. Their main evacuation phase lasts for $\sim$50 minutes. The dimming area, the total dimming brightness, and the total unsigned magnetic flux show the highest correlation with the flare SXR fluence ($c\gtrsim0.7$). Their corresponding time derivatives, describing the dimming dynamics, strongly correlate with the GOES flare class ($c\gtrsim 0.6$). For 60% of the events we identified core dimmings, i.e. signatures of an erupting flux rope. They contain 20% of the magnetic flux covering only 5% of the total dimming area. Secondary dimmings map overlying fields that are stretched during the eruption and closed down by magnetic reconnection, thus adding flux to the erupting flux rope via magnetic reconnection. This interpretation is supported by the strong correlation between the magnetic fluxes of secondary dimmings and flare reconnection fluxes ($c=0.63\pm0.08$), the balance between positive and negative magnetic fluxes ($c=0.83\pm0.04$) within the total dimmings and the fact that for strong flares ($>$M1.0) the reconnection and secondary dimming fluxes are roughly equal., 24 pages, 21 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

We investigate the high-speed ($v >$ 1000 km s$^{-1}$) extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) wave associated with an X1.2 flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) from NOAA active region 11283 on 2011 September 6 (SOL2011-09-06T22:12). This EUV wave features peculiar on-disk signatures, in particular we observe an intermittent "disappearance" of the front for 120 s in SDO/AIA 171, 193, 211 {\AA} data, whereas the 335 {\AA} filter, sensitive to hotter plasmas (T$\sim$2.5 MK), shows a continuous evolution of the wave front. The eruption was also accompanied by localized coronal dimming regions. We exploit the multi-point quadrature position of SDO and STEREO-A, to make a thorough analysis of the EUV wave evolution, with respect to its kinematics and amplitude evolution and reconstruct the SDO line-of-sight (LOS) direction of the identified coronal dimming regions in STEREO-A. We show that the observed intensities of the dimming regions in SDO/AIA depend on the structures that are lying along their LOS and are the combination of their individual intensities, e.g. the expanding CME body, the enhanced EUV wave and CME front. In this context, we conclude that the intermittent disappearance of the EUV wave in the AIA 171, 193, 211 {\AA} filters, which are channels sensitive to plasma with temperatures below $\sim$2 MK is also caused by such LOS integration effects. These observations clearly demonstrate that single-view image data provide us with limited insight to correctly interpret coronal features., Comment: accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Su et al. 2012 proposed a new explanation for filament formation and eruption, where filament barbs are rotating magnetic structures driven by underlying vortices on the surface. Such structures have been noticed as tornado-like prominences when they appear above the limb. They may play a key role as the source of plasma and twist in filaments. However, no observations have successfully distinguished rotational motion of the magnetic structures in tornado-like prominences from other motions such as oscillation and counter-streaming plasma flows. Here we report evidence of rotational motions in a tornado-like prominence. The spectroscopic observations in two coronal lines were obtained from a specifically designed Hinode/EIS observing program. The data revealed the existence of both cold and million-degree-hot plasma in the prominence leg, supporting the so-called "the prominence-corona transition region". The opposite velocities at the two sides of the prominence and their persistent time evolution, together with the periodic motions evident in SDO/AIA dark structures, indicate a rotational motion of both cold and hot plasma with a speed of $\sim$5 km s$^{-1}$., accepted by ApJ Letters

In the present work we derive a Differential Emission Measure (DEM) dis- tribution from a region dominated by spicules. We use spectral data from the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) spectrometer on-board the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO) covering the entire SUMER wavelength range taken off-limb in the Northern polar coronal hole to construct this DEM distribution using the CHIANTI atomic database. This distribution is then used to study the thermal properties of the emission contributing to the 171 {\AA} channel in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on-board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). From our off-limb DEM we found that the radiance in the AIA 171 {\AA} channel is dominated by emission from the Fe ix 171.07 {\AA} line and has sparingly little contribution from other lines. The product of the Fe ix 171.07 {\AA} line contribution function with the off-limb DEM was found to have a maximum at logTmax (K) = 5.8 indicating that during spicule observations the emission in this line comes from plasma at transition region temperatures rather than coronal. For comparison, the same product with a quiet Sun and prominence DEM were found to have a maximum at logT max (K) = 5.9 and logTmax (K) = 5.7, respectively. We point out that the interpretation of data obtained from the AIA 171 {\AA} filter should be done with foreknowledge of the thermal nature of the observed phenomenon. For example, with an off-limb DEM we find that only 3.6% of the plasma is above a million degrees, whereas using a quiet Sun DEM, this contribution rises to 15%., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures accepted by Solar Physics

We aim with the present study to provide observational evidences on whether coronal hole spicules reach coronal temperatures. We combine multi-instrument co-observations obtained with the SUMER/SoHO and with the EIS/SOT/XRT/Hinode. The analysed three large spicules were found to be comprised of numerous thin spicules which rise, rotate and descend simultaneously forming a bush-like feature. Their rotation resembles the untwisting of a large flux rope. They show velocities ranging from 50 to 250 km/s. We clearly associated the red- and blue-shifted emissions in transition region lines with rotating but also with rising and descending plasmas, respectively. Our main result is that these spicules although very large and dynamic, show no presence in spectral lines formed at temperatures above 300 000 K. The present paper brings out the analysis of three Ca II H large spicules which are composed of numerous dynamic thin spicules but appear as macrospicules in EUV lower resolution images. We found no coronal counterpart of these and smaller spicules. We believe that the identification of phenomena which have very different origins as macrospicules is due to the interpretation of the transition region emission, and especially the He II emission, wherein both chromospheric large spicules and coronal X-ray jets are present. We suggest that the recent observation of spicules in the coronal AIA/SDO 171 A and 211 A channels is probably due to the existence of transition region emission there., 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A