Temporal variations of loop structures in the solar atmosphere

Abstract

Unique timelapse sequences of Skylab/ATM spectroheliograms reveal the following characteristics of normal (i.e. non-flare) loop structures in the solar atmosphere:

• (1) At the 0.5 × 10⁶ K temperature of Ne vii, emission is concentrated into individual spiky structures that project 10⁴–10⁵ km from their magnetic footpoints and live on the order of 30 min.

• (2) At the 1.0 × 10⁶ K temperature of Mg ix, the individual spikes are more diffuse, and have greater lengths and longer lifetimes (∼ 1.5 hr) than their 0.5 × 10⁶ K counterparts. Perhaps for this reason, more 1.0 × 10⁶ K loops are visible than 0.5 × 10⁶ K loops at any given time.

• (3) At the 2.0 × 10⁶ K temperature of Fe xv, emission is confined to a number of relatively diffuse and irregularly shaped features whose collective patterns define closed field volumes in and between active regions. Although the individual features evolve on a time scale of roughly 6 hr, their collective patterns last for several days or more. Unlike the 0.5 × 10⁶ K features, the 2.0 × 10⁶ K features never form as a linear extension along an apparent magnetic field line, but seem to brighten and fade in place.

These results place severe constraints on theoretical models of coronal heating and mass flow.