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Session: Heliophysics and the Solar System

Name: Mr. Ioannis Dakanalis (UOA, NOA/IAASARS)
Coauthors: No coauthors were included.
Type: Oral
Title: Detection and line profile analysis of swirling structures on the solar atmosphere from multiwavelength observations
Abstract:

Ubiquitous vortical motions in the solar atmosphere have been recently revealed by high resolution observations from both space-borne and ground-based observatories in quiet, as well as, in active regions. In chromospheric observations obtained in spectral lines, such as the Halpha and Ca II IR, they manifest themselves as swirling dark spiral- and circular-shaped patches known as “chromospheric swirls”. Their suggested contribution to the channelling of energy, mass and momentum from the sub-photospheric to the higher layers of the solar atmosphere places them amongst potential candidates for atmospheric heating. In this context, their detection and statistical information concerning their population and several significant physical parameters and properties are of vital importance. To complement visual inspection and automated detection methods based on the, often ill-derived, horizontal velocity field we have developed a novel automated detection method, which is purely based on their morphological characteristics. The algorithm was applied on high resolution observations obtained with the Crisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter (CRISP) of the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) in three chromospheric spectral lines, namely, the Halpha, Ca II IR and Ca II K lines, in order to derive statistical information and explore the response of swirls in different heights of the chromosphere. In this presentation we focus on the morphological characteristics of swirling structures with co-spatial detections in all three chromospheric lines and the profile analysis performed to derive significant physical parameters, such as line-of-sight velocities, FWHM and equivalent widths. We also discuss the response of these swirling chromospheric structures in co-aligned observations obtained by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) space observatories that map the Transition Region and Solar Corona.