Observation of high-speed outflow on plume-like structures of the quiet sun and coronal holes with solar dynamics observatory/atmospheric imaging assembly

Hui Tian, Scott W. McIntosh, Shadia Rifal Habbal, Jiansen He

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

86 Scopus citations

Abstract

Observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory reveal ubiquitous episodic outflows (jets) with an average speed around 120kms-1 at temperatures often exceeding a million degree in plume-like structures, rooted in magnetized regions of the quiet solar atmosphere. These outflows are not restricted to the well-known plumes visible in polar coronal holes, but are also present in plume-like structures originating from equatorial coronal holes and quiet-Sun (QS) regions. Outflows are also visible in the "inter-plume" regions throughout the atmosphere. Furthermore, the structures traced out by these flows in both plume and inter-plume regions continually exhibit transverse (Alfvénic) motion. Our finding suggests that high-speed outflows originate mainly from the magnetic network of the QS and coronal holes (CHs), and that the plume flows observed are highlighted by the denser plasma contained therein. These outflows might be an efficient means to provide heated mass into the corona and serve as an important source of mass supply to the solar wind. We demonstrate that the QS plume flows can sometimes significantly contaminate the spectroscopic observations of the adjacent CHs - greatly affecting the Doppler shifts observed, thus potentially impacting significant investigations of such regions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number130
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume736
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Sun: UV radiation
  • Sun: corona
  • line: profiles
  • solar wind

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