A Preliminary Study of Active Region Canopies With AIA
Abstract
Active region canopies are areas frequently accompanying active regions which have extensive horizontal magnetic fields. The large-scale canopy fields have a significant effect on the kinds of structures which can exist beneath them, and how they evolve. Using data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), we developed methods to automatically identify these regions. A Differential Emission Measure (DEM) analysis is consistent with the idea that the long, hotter active region loops overlie quite cool, small-scale features ("fibrils"). We suggest that the overlying loops restrict the growth of underlying structures to mostly very short, cool features. We also studied evolution of canopy regions over time. In several cases, a large quiescent filament formed out of the former canopy region over the course of a few solar rotations, confirming previous suggestions. The canopy remains visible for several rotations after its active regions have begun to decay; in this time, the fibril magnetic fields gradually align in such a way as to form a filament channel. Further analysis of our large canopy database should uncover more information on the frequency and characteristics of these canopy-to-filament evolutions, as well as other canopy properties. This work is supported by the NSF REU program at SAO (grant ATM-0851866) and contract SP02H1701R from Lockheed Martin to SAO for SDO research.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221
- Pub Date:
- January 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22115905L