FISS Observations of Vertical Motion of Plasma in Tiny Pores

Abstract

Pores can be exploited for the understanding of the interaction between small-scale vertical magnetic field and the surrounding convective motions as well as the transport of mechanical energy into the chromosphere along the magnetic field. For better understanding of the physics of pores, we investigate tiny pores in a new emerging active region (AR11117) that were observed on 26 October 2010 by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board Hinode and the Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) of the 1.6 meter New Solar Telescope (NST). The pores are compared with nearby small magnetic concentrations (SMCs), which have similar magnetic flux as the pores but do not appear dark. Magnetic flux density and Doppler velocities in the photosphere are estimated by applying the center-of-gravity method to the Hinode/Spectro-Polarimeter data. The line-of-sight motions in the lower chromosphere are determined by applying the bisector method to the wings of the Hα and the Ca ii 8542 Å line simultaneously taken by the FISS. The coordinated observation reveals that the pores are filled with plasma which moves down slowly and are surrounded by stronger downflow in the photosphere. In the lower chromosphere, we found that the plasma flows upwards inside the pores while the plasma in the SMCs is always moving down. Our inspection of the Ca ii 8542 Å line from the wing to the core shows that the upflow in the pores slows down with height and turns into downflow in the upper chromosphere while the downflow in the SMCs gains its speed. Our results are in agreement with the numerical studies which suggest that rapid cooling of the interior of the pores drives a strong downflow, which collides with the dense lower layer below and rebounds into an upflow.

Initial Results from FISS

Guest Editor: Jongchul Chae