Magnetic Characteristics of Active Region Heating Observed with TRACE, SOHO/EIT, and Yohkoh/SXT
Abstract
Over the past several years, we have reported results from studies that have compared the magnetic structure and heating of the transition region and corona (both in active regions and in the quiet Sun) by combining X-ray and EUV images from Yohkoh and SOHO with photospheric magnetograms from ground-based observatories. Our findings have led us to the hypothesis that most heating throughout the corona is driven from near and below the base of the corona by eruptive microflares occurring in compact low-lying "core" magnetic fields (i.e., fields rooted along and closely enveloping polarity inversion lines in the photospheric magnetic flux). We now extend these studies to cooler plasmas, incorporating sequences of UV and EUV images from TRACE (in addition to SOHO and Yohkoh data) into a comparison with longitudinal magnetograms from Kitt Peak and vector magnetograms from MSFC. These studies support the previous results regarding the importance of core-field activity to active region heating. Activity in fields associated with satellite polarity inclusions and/or magnetically sheared configurations is especially prominent. This work is funded by NASA's Office of Space Science through the Sun-Earth Connection Guest Investigator Program and the Solar Physics Supporting Research and Technology Program.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001AGUSM..SH41A05P
- Keywords:
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- 7500 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7509 Corona;
- 7524 Magnetic fields;
- 7546 Transition region;
- 7549 Ultraviolet emissions