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A “Solar Space Elevator”: Imaging and Spectroscopic Analysis of Small Eruptions Observed by IRIS and SDO/AIA

Presentation #322.02 in the session “Solar Physics Division (SPD): CMEs”.

Published onJun 18, 2021
A “Solar Space Elevator”: Imaging and Spectroscopic Analysis of Small Eruptions Observed by IRIS and SDO/AIA

Magnetic reconnection is typically understood to be an important driver of energy release in the solar corona and chromosphere. Plasma that is heated and accelerated upward along magnetic field structures carries indirect information on conditions in the reconnection region and current sheet located near the structure base. On 2016-Oct-14, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and Solar Dynamics Observatory / Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) observed a series of small (i.e. no GOES class) eruptions in NOAA AR 12599. These eruptions originated in a unique structure projecting upward from the AR, which displays a length-to-width ratio that exceeds 50 and remains remarkably straight throughout its evolution. Several bright blobs of plasma can be observed to ascend and subsequently descend along the structure, giving the appearance of elevator cars. These eruptions are cotemporal with footpoint and arcade brightenings, which we believe indicate repeated episodes of reconnection at the structure base. We present our analysis of imaging and spectroscopic data of the eruption and footpoint plasma. We determine properties of the “elevator car” plasma, including the line-of-sight inclination, the temperature and density structure, and lift-off velocities and accelerations of jet eruptions. We use these properties to constrain the geometry of the “elevator” structure and conditions in the reconnection region.

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