Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 31 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5842, pp. 1192 - 1196
DOI: 10.1126/science.1143304
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Alfvén Waves in the Solar Corona

S. Tomczyk,1* S. W. McIntosh,1,2 S. L. Keil,3 P. G. Judge,1 T. Schad,4 D. H. Seeley,5 J. Edmondson6

Alfvén waves, transverse incompressible magnetic oscillations, have been proposed as a possible mechanism to heat the Sun's corona to millions of degrees by transporting convective energy from the photosphere into the diffuse corona. We report the detection of Alfvén waves in intensity, line-of-sight velocity, and linear polarization images of the solar corona taken using the FeXIII 1074.7-nanometer coronal emission line with the Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter (CoMP) instrument at the National Solar Observatory, New Mexico. Ubiquitous upward propagating waves were seen, with phase speeds of 1 to 4 megameters per second and trajectories consistent with the direction of the magnetic field inferred from the linear polarization measurements. An estimate of the energy carried by the waves that we spatially resolved indicates that they are too weak to heat the solar corona; however, unresolved Alfvén waves may carry sufficient energy.

1 High Altitude Observatory (HAO), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Post Office Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307–3000, USA.
2 Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
3 National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak Observatory, 1 Loop Drive, Sunspot, NM 88349, USA.
4 Physics Department, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556–5670, USA.
5 Framingham High School, 115 A Street, Framingham, MA 01701, USA.
6 Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109–2143, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tomczyk{at}ucar.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Alfven Waves in the Lower Solar Atmosphere.
D. B. Jess, M. Mathioudakis, R. Erdelyi, P. J. Crockett, F. P. Keenan, and D. J. Christian (2009)
Science 323, 1582-1585
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Chromospheric Alfvenic Waves Strong Enough to Power the Solar Wind.
B. De Pontieu, S. W. McIntosh, M. Carlsson, V. H. Hansteen, T. D. Tarbell, C. J. Schrijver, A. M. Title, R. A. Shine, S. Tsuneta, Y. Katsukawa, et al. (2007)
Science 318, 1574-1577
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)