Tuesday, March 5, 2013

1303.0179 (Sven Wedemeyer et al.)

Magnetic tornadoes and chromospheric swirls -- Definition and classification    [PDF]

Sven Wedemeyer, Eamon Scullion, Oskar Steiner, Jaime de la Cruz Rodriguez, Luc Rouppe van der Voort
Chromospheric swirls are the observational signatures of rotating magnetic field structures in the solar atmosphere, also known as magnetic tornadoes. Swirls appear as dark rotating features in the core of the spectral line of singly ionized calcium at a wavelength of 854.2 nm. This signature can be very subtle and difficult to detect given the dynamic changes in the solar chromosphere. Important steps towards a systematic and objective detection method are the compilation and characterization of a statistically significant sample of observed and simulated chromospheric swirls. Here, we provide a more exact definition of the chromospheric swirl phenomenon and also present a first morphological classification of swirls with three types: (I) Ring, (II) Split, (III) Spiral. We also discuss the nature of the magnetic field structures connected to tornadoes and the influence of limited spatial resolution on the appearance of their photospheric footpoints.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.0179

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