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Observations of the Sun's off-limb white-light (WL) flares offer rare opportunities to study the energy release and transport mechanisms in flare loops. One of the best such events was SOL2017-09-10, an X8.2 flare that occurred near the Sun's west limb on 2017 September 10 and produced a WL loop system lasting more than 60 minutes and reaching an altitude higher than 30 Mm. The event was well observed by a suite of ground- and space-based instruments, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (SDO/HMI) that captured its off-limb loops in WL continuum near Fe I 6173 A, and the Atmospheric Imager Assembly (SDO/AIA) that observed its ultraviolet (UV) and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) counterparts. We found quasi-periodic pulsations in the WL and UV emissions at the flare loop-top with a period around 8.0 min. Each pulsation appears to have an EUV counterpart that occurs earlier in time and higher in altitude. Despite many similarities in the WL and UV images and light curves, the WL flux at the loop-top continues to grow for about 16 minutes while the UV fluxes gradually decay. We discuss the implication of these unprecedented observations on the understanding of the enigmatic off-limb WL flare emission mechanisms., Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We present the relationships between the disappearances of two small pores, magnetic cancellations, and magnetic reconnection episodes in the NOAA AR 12778 on 2020 October 26 with high-resolution observations of the New Vacuum Solar Telescope and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Two emerging positive polarities (P1 and P2) approach a negative polarity (N1) with velocities of 0.26 and 0.42 km s−1, respectively. Then, two small-scale magnetic reconnection episodes occur between a series of magnetic loops that are rooted in these polarities. The reconnection inflow velocities are around 4.0 km s−1 which is faster than the movements of P1 and P2. Compared with the first magnetic reconnection episode, more magnetic free energy is released in the second reconnection episode due to the greater magnetic strength of P2. Subsequently, magnetic cancellation occurs first between P1 and N1, and then between P2 and N1. At the same time, the pores S1 (N1) and S2 (P2) decay and disappear. The area decay rate of the small pore S2 is estimated to be 7.3 Mm2 hr−1, which is larger than previously reported cases. And the flux decay rate of S2 is 5.1 × 1019 Mx hr−1, similar to the results obtained in the larger sunspots. We conclude that the magnetic reconnection episodes may be caused by both the movement of the magnetic polarities and the plasma dynamics themselves. The decay and disappearance of the small pores and the polarities are driven by magnetic reconnection episodes and then flux submergence. We suggest that a magnetic reconnection episode is a more efficient mechanism for the disappearance of solar pores.

We present a new data product, called Space-Weather MDI Active Region Patches (SMARPs), derived from maps of the solar surface magnetic field taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO). Together with the Space-Weather HMI Active Region Patches (SHARPs), derived from similar maps taken by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory, these data provide a continuous and seamless set of maps and keywords that describe every active region observed over the last two solar cycles, from 1996 to the present day. In this paper, we describe the SMARP data and compare it to the SHARP data., 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted in ApJS

In this paper we present a curated dataset from the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission in a format suitable for machine learning research. Beginning from level 1 scientific products we have processed various instrumental corrections, downsampled to manageable spatial and temporal resolutions, and synchronized observations spatially and temporally. We illustrate the use of this dataset with two example applications: forecasting future EVE irradiance from present EVE irradiance and translating HMI observations into AIA observations. For each application we provide metrics and baselines for future model comparison. We anticipate this curated dataset will facilitate machine learning research in heliophysics and the physical sciences generally, increasing the scientific return of the SDO mission. This work is a direct result of the 2018 NASA Frontier Development Laboratory Program. Please see the appendix for access to the dataset., Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series; 11 pages, 8 figures

Using extreme-ultraviolet images, we recently proposed a new and alternative formation mechanism for coronal rain along magnetically open field lines due to interchange magnetic reconnection. In this paper we report coronal rain at chromospheric and transition region temperatures originating from the coronal condensations facilitated by reconnection between open and closed coronal loops. For this, we employ the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Around 2013 October 19, a coronal rain along curved paths was recorded by IRIS over the southeastern solar limb. Related to this, we found reconnection between a system of higher-lying open features and lower-lying closed loops that occurs repeatedly in AIA images. In this process, the higher-lying features form magnetic dips. In response, two sets of newly reconnected loops appear and retract away from the reconnection region. In the dips, seven events of cooling and condensation of coronal plasma repeatedly occur due to thermal instability over several days, from October 18 to 20. The condensations flow downward to the surface as coronal rain, with a mean interval between condensations of 6.6 hr. In the cases where IRIS data were available we found the condensations to cool all the way down to chromospheric temperatures. Based on our observations we suggest that some of the coronal rain events observed at chromospheric temperatures could be explained by the new and alternative scenario for the formation of coronal rain, where the condensation is facilitated by interchange reconnection., 21 pages, 3 tables, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

3-minute oscillations in the chromosphere are attributed to both slow magnetoacoustic waves propagating from the photosphere, and to oscillations generated within the chromosphere itself at its natural frequency as a response to a disturbance. Here we present an investigation of the spatial and temporal behavior of the chromospheric 3-minute oscillations before, during, and after the SOL2011-02-15T01:56 X2.2 flare. Observations in ultraviolet emission centered on 1600 and 1700 Angstroms obtained at 24- second cadence from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory are used to create power maps as functions of both space and time. We observe higher 3-minute power during the flare, spatially concentrated in small areas 10 pixels (4 arcseconds) across. This implies that the chromospheric plasma is not oscillating globally as a single body. The locations of increased 3-minute power are consistent with observations of HXR flare emission from previous studies, suggesting that these small areas are manifestations of the chromosphere responding to injection of energy by nonthermal particles. This supports the theory that the chromosphere oscillates at the acoustic cutoff frequency in response to a disturbance., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. 12 pages, 7 figures

Solar filaments are dark structures on the solar disk, with an elongated spine and several barbs extending out from the spine. When appearing above the solar limb, a filament is called a prominence, with several feet extending down to the solar surface. It was generally thought that filament barbs are simply the prominence feet veering away from the spine and down to the solar surface. However, it was recently noticed that there might be another dynamic type of barbs, which were proposed to be due to filament thread longitudinal oscillation. If this is the case, the dynamic barbs would not extend down to the solar surface. With the quadrature observations of a filament barb on 2011 June 5 from the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory} and the {\it STEREO} satellites, we confirm that the filament barb is due to filament thread longitudinal oscillations. Viewed from the side, the filament barb looks like an appendix along the spine of the prominence, and does not extend down to the solar surface as a foot., 12 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Filament eruptions occurring at different places within a relatively short time internal, but with a certain physical causal connection are usually known as sympathetic eruption. Studies on sympathetic eruptions are not uncommon. However, in the existed reports, the causal links between sympathetic eruptions remain rather speculative. In this work, we present detailed observations of a sympathetic filament eruption event, where an identifiable causal link between two eruptive filaments is observed. On 2015 November 15, two filaments (F1 in the north and F2 in the south) were located at the southwestern quadrant of solar disk. The main axes of them were almost parallel to each other. Around 22:20 UT, F1 began to erupt, forming two flare ribbons. The southwestern ribbon apparently moved to southwest and intruded southeast part of F2. This continuous intrusion caused F2's eventual eruption. Accompanying the eruption of F2, flare ribbons and post-flare loops appeared in northwest region of F2. Meanwhile, neither flare ribbons nor post-flare loops could be observed in southeastern area of F2. In addition, the nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolations show that the magnetic fields above F2 in the southeast region are much weaker than that in the northwest region. These results imply that the overlying magnetic fields of F2 were not uniform. So we propose that the southwest ribbon formed by eruptive F1 invaded F2 from its southeast region with relatively weaker overlying magnetic fields in comparison with its northwest region, disturbing F2 and leading F2 to erupt eventually., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 304 A images obtained from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we study two jets which occurred during the M5.8 class flare on 2017 April 3 and the M5.5 class flare on 2016 July 23, respectively. During the M5.8 class flare, many vortex-like structures occurred in the upstream and downstream regimes of the associated jet. While the jet was ejected upwards to the corona, some dark material at its base flowed through a bright structure with a velocity of 110 km/s. The boundary between the material and the structure changed from smooth to uneven. Later, the jet material at the higher atmosphere started to fall down with velocities of over 200 km/s, and the left boundary of the jet developed into a sawtooth pattern. The vortex-like structures were formed, and the growth rates of two structures were presented. During the M5.5 class flare, we also observed many vortex-like structures in the downstream regime of the jet. At the late stage of the jet, some material at the south boundary of the jet fell back to the solar surface, and vortex-like structures at the boundary grew from ripple-like minim into vortices with diameters of 3.4-5.4 Mm. The growth rates of the vortex-like structures were calculated. We suggest that the vortex-like structures in the upstream regime are the manifestations of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and those in the downstream regime are simultaneously driven by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability and Raleigh-Taylor instability., 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Coronal jets, which extend from the solar surface to beyond 2 $R_\odot$, were observed in the polar coronal hole regions during the total solar eclipse on 2017 August 21. In a time-series of white-light images of the corona spanning 70 minutes taken with our multi-site observations of this eclipse, six jets were found as narrow structures upwardly ejected with the apparent speed of about 450 km s$^{-1}$ in polar plumes. On the other hand, extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images taken with the Atmospheric Image Assembly of the Solar Dynamics Observatory show that all of the eclipse jets were preceded by EUV jets. Conversely, all the EUV jets whose brightness is comparable to ordinary soft X-ray jets and which occurred in the polar regions near the eclipse period were observed as eclipse jets. These results suggest that ordinary polar jets generally reach high altitudes and escape from the Sun as part of the solar wind., Accepted in ApJ, 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

Using the observations from the Optical and Near-infrared Solar Eruption Tracer and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we study an M5.7 flare in AR 11476 on 2012 May 10 and a micro-flare in the quiet Sun on 2017 March 23. Before the onset of each flare, there is a reverse S-shaped filament above the polarity inversion line. Then the filaments become unstable and begin to rise. The rising filaments gain the upper hand over the tension force of the dome-like overlying loops and thus successfully erupt outward. The footpoints of the reconnecting overlying loops successively brighten and are observed as two flare ribbons, while the newly formed low-lying loops appear as the post-flare loops. These eruptions are similar to the classical model of successful filament eruptions associated with coronal mass ejections. However, the erupting filaments in this study move along large-scale lines and eventually reach the remote solar surface, i.e., no filament material is ejected into the interplanetary space. Thus both the flares are confined ones. These results reveal that some successful filament eruptions can trigger confined flares. Our observations also imply that this kind of filament eruptions may be ubiquitous on the Sun, from active regions with large flares to the quiet Sun with micro-flares., 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

We present high-resolution laboratory measurements in the spectral region between 165 and 175 A that focus on the emission from various ions of C, O, F, Ne, S, Ar, Fe, and Ni. This wavelength region is centered on the λ171 Fe ix channel of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and we place special emphasis on the weaker emission lines of Fe ix predicted in this region. In general, our measurements show a multitude of weak lines missing in the current databases, where the emission lines of Ni are probably most in need of further identification and reclassification. We also find that the wavelengths of some of the known lines need updating. Using the multi-reference Moller–Plesset method for wavelength predictions and collisional-radiative modeling of the line intensities, we have made tentative assignments of more than a dozen lines to the spectrum of Fe ix, some of which have formerly been identified as Fe vii, Fe xiv, or Fe xvi lines. Several Fe features remain unassigned, although they appear to be either Fe vii or Fe x lines. Further work will be needed to complete and correct the spectral line lists in this wavelength region.

Current helicity quantifies the location of twisted and sheared non-potential structures in a magnetic field. We simulate the evolution of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere in response to flux emergence and shearing by photospheric motions. In our global-scale simulation over many solar rotations the latitudinal distribution of current helicity develops a clear statistical pattern, matching the observed hemispheric sign at active latitudes. In agreement with observations there is significant scatter and intermixing of both signs of helicity, where we find local values of current helicity density that are much higher than those predicted by linear force-free extrapolations. Forthcoming full-disk vector magnetograms from Solar Dynamics Observatory will provide an ideal opportunity to test our theoretical results on the evolution and distribution of current helicity, both globally and in single active regions., 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We report the simultaneous presence of chromospheric umbral flashes and associated umbral waves, and propagating coronal disturbances, in a sunspot and related active region. We have analyzed time-distance maps obtained using the observations from Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on-board Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). These maps show the simultaneous occurrence of different sunspot oscillation and waves such as umbral flashes, umbral waves, and coronal waves. Analysis of the original light curves, i.e., without implementing any Fourier filtering on them, show that the amplitudes of different sunspot waves observed at different atmospheric layers change in synchronization with the light curves obtained from the umbral flash region, thus demonstrating that these oscillations are modulated by umbral flashes. This study provides the first observational evidence of the influence of sunspot oscillations within the umbra on other sunspot waves extending up to the corona. The properties of these waves and oscillations can be utilized to study the inherent magnetic coupling among different layers of the solar atmosphere above sunspots., 10 pages, 11 figures. Published in the ApJ

In this paper, we examine 15 different active regions (ARs) observed with the Solar Dynamics Observatory and analyze their nanoflare properties. We have recently developed a technique that systematically identifies and measures plasma temperature dynamics by computing time lags between light curves. The time lag method tests whether the plasma is maintained at a steady temperature, or if it is dynamic, undergoing heating and cooling cycles. An important aspect of our technique is that it analyzes both observationally distinct coronal loops as well as the much more prevalent diffuse emission between them. We find that the widespread cooling reported previously for NOAA AR 11082 is a generic property of all ARs. The results are consistent with impulsive nanoflare heating followed by slower cooling. Only occasionally, however, is there full cooling from above 7 megakelvins to well below 1 megakelvin. More often, the plasma cools to approximately 1-2 megakelvins before being reheated by another nanoflare. These same 15 ARs were first studied by Warren et al. We find that the degree of cooling is not well correlated with the reported slopes of the mission measure distribution. We also conclude that the Fe (sup XVIII)-emitting plasma that they measured is mostly in a state of cooling. These results support the idea that nanoflares have a distribution of energies and frequencies, with the average delay between successive events on an individual flux tube being comparable to the plasma cooling timescale.

For 478 centrally located sunspots observed in the optical continuum with Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic Magnetic Imager, we perform seismological diagnostics of the physical parameters of umbral photospheres. The new technique is based on the theory of slow magnetoacoustic waves in a non-isothermally stratified photosphere with a uniform vertical magnetic field. We construct a map of the weighted frequency of three-minute oscillations inside the umbra and use it for the estimation of the Alfven speed, plasma-beta, and mass density within the umbra. We find the umbral mean Alfven speed ranges between 10.5 and 7.5 km s−1 and is negatively correlated with magnetic field strength. The umbral mean plasma-beta is found to range approximately between 0.65 and 1.15 and does not vary significantly from pores to mature sunspots. The mean density ranges between (1–6) × 10−4 kg m−3 and shows a strong positive correlation with magnetic field strength.

In this article, we report a study of the longest-lived polar crown cavity of Solar Cycle 24, using an observation from 2013, and propose a physical mechanism to explain its sustained existence. We used high temporal and spatial resolution observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to explore the structure and evolution of the cavity. Although it existed for more than a year, we examined the circumpolar cavity in great detail from 2013 March 21 to 2013 October 31. Our study reinforces the existing theory of formation of polar crown filaments that involves two basic processes to form any polar crown cavity as well as the long-lived cavity that we studied here. First, the underlying polarity inversion line (PIL) of the circumpolar cavity is formed between (1) the trailing part of dozens of decayed active regions distributed in different longitudes and (2) the unipolar magnetic field in the polar coronal hole. Second, the long life of the cavity is sustained by the continuing flux cancellation along the PIL. The flux is persistently transported toward the polar region through surface meridional flow and diffusion. The continuing flux cancellation leads to the shrinking of the polar coronal hole.

We present a comprehensive study of the electric current related to the formation and eruption of active region filaments in NOAA AR 11884. The vertical current on the solar surface was investigated by using vector magnetograms (VMs) observed by HMI on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. To obtain the electric current along the filament's axis, we reconstructed the magnetic fields above the photosphere by using nonlinear force-free field extrapolation based on photospheric VMs. Spatio-temporal evolutions of the vertical current on the photospheric surface and the horizontal current along the filament's axis were studied during the long-term evolution and eruption-related period, respectively. The results show that the vertical currents of the entire active region behaved with a decreasing trend and the magnetic fields also kept decreasing during the long-term evolution. For the eruption-related evolution, the mean transverse field strengths decreased before two eruptions and increased sharply after two eruptions in the vicinity of the polarity inversion lines underneath the filament. The related vertical current showed different behaviors in two of the eruptions. On the other hand, a very interesting feature was found: opposite horizontal currents with respect to the current of the filament's axis appeared and increased under the filament before the eruptions and disappeared after the eruptions. We suggest that these opposite currents were carried by the new flux emerging from the photosphere bottom and might be the trigger mechanism for these filament eruptions.

Flare ribbons (FRs) are one of the most apparent signatures of solar flares and have been treated as an indicator of magnetic reconnection. Drawing upon the observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we present semicircular-like secondary FRs (SFRs) of a C2.3 flare on 2013 June 19. Before the flare eruption, two bipoles in this core region subsequently emerged. Due to the interaction between the two bipoles, a tether-cutting eruption took place in the core region. The SFRs, surrounding the core region nearly simultaneously with the flare onset, were much weaker than the two normal FRs. Two ends of the SFRs experienced a separation and extension movement, but the middle part of the SFRs hardly expanded outward. We find SFRs are closely associated with the footpoint brightenings of some small loops around the core region. The eruption was confined by transequatorial loops (TLs), which resulted in the plasma material falling in the north end of the TLs and remote brightenings showing up in the south end of the TLs. The disappearance of the faint (filament) material during the emergence of the SFRs could indicate another eruption. We conclude that two or more magnetic reconnections are involved in this event and propose that SFRs consisting of a small part of true FRs resulted from the second magnetic reconnection and bright footpoints of loop clusters likely heated by the main flare.

Spicules are ubiquitous, fast moving jets observed off-limb in chromospheric spectral lines. Combining the recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph with the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Hinode, we have a unique opportunity to study spicules simultaneously in multiple passbands and from a seeing free environment. This makes it possible to study their thermal evolution over a large range of temperatures. A recent study showed that spicules appear in several chromospheric and transition region spectral lines, suggesting that spicules continue their evolution in hotter passbands after they fade from Ca ii H. In this follow-up paper, we answer some of the questions that were raised in the introductory study. In addition, we study spicules off-limb in C ii 1330 Å for the first time. We find that Ca ii H spicules are more similar to Mg ii 2976 Å spicules than initially reported. For a sample of 54 spicules, we find that 44% of Si iv 1400 Å spicules are brighter toward the top; 56% of the spicules show an increase in Si iv emission when the Ca ii H component fades. We find several examples of spicules that fade from passbands other than Ca ii H, and we observe that if a spicule fades from a passband, it also generally fades from the passbands with lower formation temperatures. We discuss what these new, multi-spectral results mean for the classification of type I and II spicules. Reproduced with permission from the Astrophysical Journal. © IOP Publishing

We have found indications of a relationship between the differential emission measure (DEM) weighted temperature and the cross-field DEM width for coronal loops. The data come from the Hinode X-ray Telescope, the Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. These data show that cooler loops tend to have narrower DEM widths. If most loops observed by these instruments are composed of bundles of unresolved magnetic strands and are only observed in their cooling phase, as some studies have suggested, then this relationship implies that the DEM of a coronal loop narrows as it cools. This could imply that fewer strands are seen emitting in the later cooling phase, potentially resolving the long standing controversy of whether the cross-field temperatures of coronal loops are multithermal or isothermal.

One of the major unsolved problems in Solar Physics is that of CME initiation. In this paper, we have studied the initiation of a flare associated CME which occurred on 2010 November 03 using multi-wavelength observations recorded by Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). We report an observation of an inflow structure initially in 304~{\AA} and in 1600~{\AA} images, a few seconds later. This inflow strucure was detected as one of the legs of the CME. We also observed a non-thermal compact source concurrent and near co-spatial with the brightening and movement of the inflow structure. The appearance of this compact non-thermal source, brightening and movement of the inflow structure and the subsequent outward movement of the CME structure in the corona led us to conclude that the CME initiation was caused by magnetic reconnection.

Observations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) have revealed numerous sub-arcsecond bright dots in the transition region above sunspots. These bright dots are seen in the 1400\AA{} and 1330\AA{} slit-jaw images. They are clearly present in all sunspots we investigated, mostly in the penumbrae, but also occasionally in some umbrae and light bridges. The bright dots in the penumbrae typically appear slightly elongated, with the two dimensions being 300--600 km and 250--450 km, respectively. The long sides of these dots are often nearly parallel to the bright filamentary structures in the penumbrae but sometimes clearly deviate from the radial direction. Their lifetimes are mostly less than one minute, although some dots last for a few minutes or even longer. Their intensities are often a few times stronger than the intensities of the surrounding environment in the slit-jaw images. About half of the bright dots show apparent movement with speeds of $\sim$10--40~km~s$^{-1}$ in the radial direction. Spectra of a few bright dots were obtained and the Si~{\sc{iv}}~1402.77\AA{} line profiles in these dots are significantly broadened. The line intensity can be enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude. Some relatively bright and long-lasting dots are also observed in several passbands of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and they appear to be located at the bases of loop-like structures. Many of these bright dots are likely associated with small-scale energy release events at the transition region footpoints of magnetic loops., Comment: 5 figures, will appear in ApJL

Using vector magnetic field data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we study magnetic helicity injection into the corona in emerging active regions (ARs) and examine the hemispheric helicity rule. In every region studied, photospheric shearing motion contributes most of the helicity accumulated in the corona. In a sample of 28 emerging ARs, 17 follow the hemisphere rule (61% ± 18% at a 95% confidence interval). Magnetic helicity and twist in 25 ARs (89% ± 11%) have the same sign. The maximum magnetic twist, which depends on the size of an AR, is inferred in a sample of 23 emerging ARs with a bipolar magnetic field configuration.

Line-of-sight magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) are analyzed using a diagnostic known as the "Magnetic Range of Influence," or MRoI. The MRoI is a measure of the length over which a photospheric magnetogram is balanced and so its application gives the user a sense of the connective length scales in the outer solar atmosphere. The MRoI maps and histograms inferred from the SDO/HMI magnetograms primarily exhibit four scales: a scale of a few megameters that can be associated with granulation, a scale of a few tens of megameters that can be associated with super-granulation, a scale of many hundreds to thousands of megameters that can be associated with coronal holes and active regions, and a hitherto unnoticed scale that ranges from 100 to 250 megameters. We infer that this final scale is an imprint of the (rotationally-driven) giant convective scale on photospheric magnetism. This scale appears in MRoI maps as well-defined, spatially distributed, concentrations that we have dubbed "g-nodes." Furthermore, using coronal observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on SDO, we see that the vicinity of these g-nodes appears to be a preferred location for the formation of extreme ultraviolet (EUV, and likely X-Ray) brightpoints. These observations and straightforward diagnostics offer the potential of a near-real-time mapping of the Sun's largest convective scale, a scale that possibly reaches to the very bottom of the convective zone., Accepted to Appear ApJL

Using the observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we statistically investigate the flare ribbons (FRs) of 19 X-class flares of the 24th solar cycle from 2010 June to 2013 August. Of these 19 flares, the source regions of 16 can be observed by AIA and the FRs of each flare are well detected, and 11 of the 16 display multiple ribbons. Based on the ribbon brightness and the relationship between the ribbons and post-flare loops, we divide the multiple ribbons into two types: normal FRs, which are connected by post-flare loops and have been extensively investigated, and secondary flare ribbons (SFRs), which are weaker than the FRs, not connected by post-flare loops, and always have a short lifetime. Of the 11 SFRs, 10 appear simultaneously with the FRs, and none of them have post-flare loops. The last one, on the other hand, appears 80 minutes later than the FR, lasts almost two hours, and also has no post-flare loops detected. We suggest that the magnetic reconnection associated with this SFR is triggered by the blast wave that results from the main flare. These observations imply that in some flare processes, more than two sets of magnetic loops or more than twice the number of magnetic reconnections are involved.

Through observations with the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, we tracked one rotating network magnetic field (RNF) near the solar equator. It lasted for more than 100 hr, from 2013 February 23 to 28. During its evolution, three cyclones were found to be rooted in this structure. Each cyclone event lasted for about 8 to 10 hr. While near the polar region, another RNF was investigated. It lasted for a shorter time (~70 hr), from 2013 July 7 to 9. There were two cyclones rooted in the RNF and each lasted for 8 and 11 hr, respectively. For the two given examples, the cyclones have a similar dynamic evolution, and thus we put forward a new term: homologous cyclones. The detected brightening in AIA 171 A maps indicates the release of energy, which is potentially available to heat the corona.

We present the first Solar Dynamics Observatory observations of four homologous flux ropes in the active region (AR) 11745 on 2013 May 20-22. The four flux ropes are all above the neutral line of the AR, with endpoints anchoring at the same region, and have a generally similar morphology. The first three flux ropes rose with a velocity of less than 30 km s–1 after their appearance, and subsequently their intensities at 131 A decreased and the flux ropes became obscure. The fourth flux rope erupted last, with a speed of about 130 km s–1 and formed a coronal mass ejection (CME). The associated filament showed an obvious anti-clockwise twist motion at the initial stage, and the twist was estimated at 4π. This indicates that kink instability possibly triggers the early rise of the fourth flux rope. The activated filament material was spatially within the flux rope and showed consistent evolution in the early stages. Our findings provide new clues for understanding the characteristics of flux ropes. Firstly, multiple flux ropes are successively formed at the same location during an AR evolution process. Secondly, a slow-rise flux rope does not necessarily result in a CME, and a fast-eruption flux rope does result in a CME.

We use high-resolution imaging spectroscopy with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) to study the transient brightenings of the wings of the Balmer Hα line in emerging active regions that are called Ellerman bombs. Simultaneous sampling of Ca II 8542 A with the SST confirms that most Ellerman bombs also occur in the wings of this line, but with markedly different morphology. Simultaneous images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) show that Ellerman bombs are also detectable in the photospheric 1700 A continuum, again with differing morphology. They are also observable in 1600 A SDO images, but with much contamination from C IV emission in transition-region features. Simultaneous SST spectropolarimetry in Fe I 6301 A shows that Ellerman bombs occur at sites of strong-field magnetic flux cancellation between small bipolar strong-field patches that rapidly move together over the solar surface. Simultaneous SDO images in He II 304 A, Fe IX 171 A, and Fe XIV 211 A show no clear effect of the Ellerman bombs on the overlying transition region and corona. These results strengthen our earlier suggestion, based on Hα morphology alone, that the Ellerman bomb phenomenon is a purely photospheric reconnection phenomenon.

The presence of both steady and transient loops in active region cores has been reported from soft X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet observations of the solar corona. The relationship between the different loop populations, however, remains an open question. We present an investigation of the short-term variability of loops in the core of two active regions in the context of their long-term evolution. We take advantage of the nearly full Sun observations of STEREO and Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft to track these active regions as they rotate around the Sun multiple times. We then diagnose the variability of the active region cores at several instances of their lifetime using EIS/Hinode spectral capabilities. We inspect a broad range of temperatures, including for the first time spatially and temporally resolved images of Ca XIV and Ca XV lines. We find that the active region cores become fainter and steadier with time. The significant emission measure at high temperatures that is not correlated with a comparable increase at low temperatures suggests that high-frequency heating is viable. The presence, however, during the early stages, of an enhanced emission measure in the ''hot'' (3.0-4.5 MK) and ''cool'' (0.6-0.9 MK) components suggests that low-frequency heating also plays amore » significant role. Our results explain why there have been recent studies supporting both heating scenarios.« less

Using the observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we statistically investigate the emerging dimmings (EDs) of 24 isolated active regions (IARs) from 2010 June to 2011 May. All the IARs show EDs in lower-temperature lines (e.g., 171 A) at their early emerging stages. Meanwhile, in higher temperature lines (e.g., 211 A), the ED regions brighten continuously. There are two types of EDs: fan-shaped and halo-shaped. There are 19 fan-shaped EDs and 5 halo-shaped ones. The EDs appear to be delayed by several to more than ten hours relative to the first emergence of the IARs. The shortest delay is 3.6 hr and the longest is 19.0 hr. The EDs last from 3.3 hr to 14.2 hr, with a mean duration of 8.3 hr. Before the appearance of the EDs, the emergence rate of the magnetic flux of the IARs is between 1.2 × 1019 Mx hr–1 to 1.4 × 1020 Mx hr–1. The larger the emergence rate is, the shorter the delay time is. While the dimmings appear, the magnetic flux of the IARs ranges from 8.8 × 1019 Mx to 1.3 × 1021 Mx. These observations imply that the reconfiguration of the coronal magnetic fields due to reconnection between the newly emerging flux and the surrounding existing fields results in a new thermal distribution which leads to a dimming for the cooler channel (171 A) and brightening in the warmer channels.

Despite decades of studying the Sun, the coronal heating problem remains unsolved. One fundamental issue is that we do not know the spatial scale of the coronal heating mechanism. At a spatial resolution of 1000 km or more, it is likely that most observations represent superpositions of multiple unresolved structures. In this Letter, we use a combination of spectroscopic data from the Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer and high-resolution images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory to determine the spatial scales of coronal loops. We use density measurements to construct multi-thread models of the observed loops and confirm these models using the higher spatial resolution imaging data. The results allow us to set constraints on the number of threads needed to reproduce a particular loop structure. We demonstrate that in several cases million degree loops are revealed to be single monolithic structures that are fully spatially resolved by current instruments. The majority of loops, however, must be composed of a number of finer, unresolved threads, but the models suggest that even for these loops the number of threads could be small, implying that they are also close to being resolved. These results challenge heating models of loops based on the reconnection of braided magnetic fields in the corona.

In this work, we present a comprehensive observation and modeling analysis of the 2010 June 13 extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) wave observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Due to extreme advances in cadence, resolution, and bandpass coverage in the EUV regime, the AIA instrument offers an unprecedented ability to observe the dynamics of large-scale coronal wave-like transients known as EUV waves. To provide a physical analysis and further complement observational insight, we conduct a three-dimensional, time-dependent thermodynamic MHD simulation of the eruption and associated EUV wave, and employ forward modeling of EUV observables to compare the results directly observations. We focus on two main aspects: (1) the interpretation of the stark thermodynamic signatures in the multi-filter AIA data within the propagating EUV wave front, and (2) an in-depth analysis of the simulation results and their implication with respect to EUV wave theories. Multiple aspects, including the relative phases of perturbed variables, suggest that the outer, propagating component of the EUV transient exhibits the behavior of a fast-mode wave. We also find that this component becomes decoupled from the evolving structures associated with the coronal mass ejection that are also visible, providing a clear distinction between wave and non-wave mechanisms at play.

Small-scale extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) dimming often surrounds sites of energy release in the quiet Sun. This paper describes a method for the automatic detection of these small-scale EUV dimmings using a feature-based classifier. The method is demonstrated using sequences of 171 A images taken by the STEREO/Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) on 2007 June 13 and by Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on 2010 August 27. The feature identification relies on recognizing structure in sequences of space-time 171 A images using the Zernike moments of the images. The Zernike moments space-time slices with events and non-events are distinctive enough to be separated using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The SVM is trained using 150 events and 700 non-event space-time slices. We find a total of 1217 events in the EUVI images and 2064 events in the AIA images on the days studied. Most of the events are found between latitudes –35° and +35°. The sizes and expansion speeds of central dimming regions are extracted using a region grow algorithm. The histograms of the sizes in both EUVI and AIA follow a steep power law with slope of about –5. The AIA slope extends to smaller sizes before turning over. The mean velocity of 1325 dimming regions seen by AIA is found to be about 14 km s–1.

We present the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory} (SDO) Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) observations of EUV cyclones in the quiet Sun. These cyclones are rooted in the Rotating Network magnetic Fields (RNFs). Such cyclones can last several to more than ten hours, and, at the later phase, they are found to be associated with EUV brightenings (microflares) and even EUV waves. SDO Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) observations show an ubiquitous presence of the RNFs. Using HMI line-of-sight magnetograms on 2010 July 8, we find 388 RNFs in an area of 800$\times$980 square arcseconds near the disk center where no active region is present. The sense of rotation shows a weak hemisphere preference. The unsigned magnetic flux of the RNFs is about 4.0$\times10^{21}$ Mx, or 78% of the total network flux. These observational phenomena at small scale reported in this letter are consistent with those at large scale in active regions. The ubiquitous RNFs and EUV cyclones over the quiet Sun may suggest an effective way to heat the corona.

One scenario proposed to explain the million degrees solar corona is a finely-stranded corona where each strand is heated by a rapid pulse. However, such fine structure has neither been resolved through direct imaging observations nor conclusively shown through indirect observations of extended superhot plasma. Recently it has been shown that the observed difference in appearance of cool and warm coronal loops (~1 MK, ~2-3 MK, respectively) -- warm loops appearing "fuzzier" than cool loops -- can be explained by models of loops composed of subarcsecond strands, which are impulsively heated up to ~10 MK. That work predicts that images of hot coronal loops (>~6 MK) should again show fine structure. Here we show that the predicted effect is indeed widely observed in an active region with the Solar Dynamics Observatory, thus supporting a scenario where impulsive heating of fine loop strands plays an important role in powering the active corona., 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication

As observed in spectral lines originating from the chromosphere, transition region, and low corona, active regions are surrounded by an extensive "circumfacular" area which is darker than the quiet Sun. We examine the properties of these dark moat- or canopy-like areas using \ion{Fe}{9} 17.1 nm images and line-of-sight magnetograms from the {\it Solar Dynamics Observatory}. The 17.1 nm canopies consist of fibrils (horizontal fields containing EUV-absorbing chromospheric material) clumped into featherlike structures. The dark fibrils initially form a quasiradial or vortical pattern as the low-lying field lines fanning out from the emerging active region connect to surrounding network and intranetwork elements of the opposite polarity. The area occupied by the 17.1 nm fibrils expands as supergranular convection causes the active region flux to spread into the background medium; the outer boundary of the dark canopy stabilizes where the diffusing flux encounters a unipolar region of the opposite sign. The dark fibrils tend to accumulate in regions of weak longitudinal field and to become rooted in mixed-polarity flux. To explain the latter observation, we note that the low-lying fibrils are more likely to interact with small loops associated with weak, opposite-polarity flux elements in close proximity, than with high loops anchored inside strong unipolar network flux. As a result, the 17.1 nm fibrils gradually become concentrated around the large-scale polarity inversion lines (PILs), where most of the mixed-polarity flux is located. Systematic flux cancellation, assisted by rotational shearing, removes the field component transverse to the PIL and causes the fibrils to coalesce into long PIL-aligned filaments., Accepted for publication in ApJ

With the observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard the \emph{Solar Dynamics Observatory}, we investigate the coronal hole boundaries (CHBs) of an equatorial extension of polar coronal hole. At the CHBs, lots of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) jets, which appear to be the signatures of magnetic reconnection, are observed in the 193 {\AA} images, and some jets occur repetitively at the same sites. The evolution of the jets is associated with the emergence and cancelation of magnetic fields. We notice that both the east and the west CHBs shift westward, and the shift velocities are close to the velocities of rigid rotation compared with those of the photospheric differential rotation. This indicates that magnetic reconnection at CHBs results in the evolution of CHBs and maintains the rigid rotation of coronal holes., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL