Presentation #204.06 in the session Solar Magnetic Fields and the Corona.
Any change in magnetic field, for example the emergence of new magnetic flux into the solar corona from the convection zone, must be conveyed to the ambient medium by a change in electric currents. In particular, the emergence of such magnetic flux must be preceded by what we will call a sheath current, which encloses the emerging flux, and acts as the transition between this flux and the ambient medium. We investigate the evolution of this sheath current in three distinct classes of simulated flux emergence: emergence into a magnetic field-free corona, emergence into a coronal field which reconnects with the emerging flux, and emergence into a coronal field which reinforces the emerging flux. We characterize the strength, thickness, and speed of this simulated sheath current, and estimate prospects for imaging this current in solar vector magnetogram observations.