Explosive Chromospheric Evaporation and Warm Rain in a GOES C3 Flare Observed by IRIS, Hinode/EIS, and RHESSI

IRIS and Hinode/EIS observed a C3.1 flare in AR 12002 in stare mode on 2014 March 15.GOES observed the flare to start at 00:21:35 UT and peak at 00:26:30 UT. The IRIS slitwas pointed near the center of the flare while the EIS slit was pointed 35 arcsec westof the IRIS slit. About 4 minutes before the GOES flare start, the C II and Si IV lineintensities observed by IRIS became (and remained) significantly greater than theirpre-flare average values; this indicates that the flare had begun and that thechromosphere and transition region were involved. IRIS first detected significant,blueshifted Fe XXI emission at 00:22:42 UT, by which time the C II and Si IV lineintensities had increased by factors around 100 and their profiles were significantlyredshifted. This combination of simultaneous, cospatial blueshifted Fe XXI emissionwith redshifted C II and Si IV emission indicates explosive chromospheric evaporation.SDO's HMI observed a localized area of enhanced magnetic field strength toward thesouthernmost portion of the EIS slit's position that appears to be connected to theflare site by faint loops evident in AIA 131 A emission. EIS spectra at this locationreveal intensity enhancements by factors up to about 1.7 in the Fe XIV and Fe XVI lineemission, and the emergence of faint Fe XXIII emission that is too weak to measurevelocities. Emission lines from the two coronal ions show redshifts of about 9 km/saround 00:24:00 UT. The density sensitive line intensity ratio of Fe XIV 264.7/274.2observed by EIS reveals an increase of electron density from (1.03+/-0.20)X10^9 /cm^3before the flare to (3.58+/-0.68)X10^9 /cm^3 during the flare. This combination ofredshifted coronal line emission and increased coronal electron density is consistentwith explosively evaporated flare material observed by IRIS falling as warm rain andaccumulating in the remote area observed by EIS. A thermal/nonthermal fit to the hardX-ray spectrum observed by RHESSI yields a nonthermal energy injection rate of4.9X10^26 ergs/s; combining this with an estimated injection area of (2.1+/-1.7)X10^17cm^2 based on IRIS slit-jaw images, we estimate a HXR beam energy flux of(6.7+/-5.5)X10^9 ergs/cm^2/s, a wide range whose larger values are consistent withexplosive chromospheric evaporation.