Abstract. Numerical experiments of the emergence of magnetic flux from the uppermost layers of the solar interior to the photosphere and its further eruption into the low atmosphere and corona are carried out. We use idealized models for the initial stratification and magnetic field distribution below the photosphere similar to those used for multidimensional flux emergence experiments in the literature. The energy equation is adiabatic except for the inclusion of ohmic and viscous dissipation terms, which, however, become important only at interfaces and reconnection sites. Three-dimensional experiments for the eruption of magnetic flux both into an unmagnetized corona and into a corona with a preexisting ambient horizontal field are presented. The shocks preceding the rising plasma present the classical structure of nonlinear Lamb waves. The expansion of the matter when rising into the atmosphere takes place preferentially in the horizontal directions: a flattened (or oval) low plasma-β ball ensues, in which the field lines describe loops in the corona with increasing inclination away from the vertical as one goes toward the sides of the structure. Magnetograms and velocity field distributions on horizontal planes are presented simultaneously for the solar interior and various levels in the atmosphere. Since the background pressure and density drop over many orders of magnitude with increasing height, the adiabatic expansion of the rising plasma yields very low temperatures. To avoid this, the entropy of the rising fluid elements should be increased to the high values of the original atmosphere via heating mechanisms not included in the present numerical experiments. The eruption of magnetic flux into a corona with a preexisting magnetic field pointing in the horizontal direction yields a clear case of essentially three-dimensional reconnection when the upcoming and ambient field systems come into contact. The coronal ambient field is chosen at time t = 0 perpendicular to the direction of the tube axis and thus, given the twist of the magnetic tube, almost anti-parallel to the field lines at the upper boundary of the rising plasma ball. A thin, dome-shaped current layer is formed at the interface between the two flux systems, in which ohmic dissipation and heating are taking place. The reconnection proceeds by merging successive layers on both sides of the reconnection site; however, this occurs not only at the cusp of the interface, but, also, gradually along its sides in the direction transverse to the ambient magnetic field. The topology of the magnetic field in the atmosphere is thereby modified: the reconnected field lines typically are part of the flanks of the tube below the photosphere but then join the ambient field system in the corona and reach the boundaries of the domain as horizontal field lines.

With modern imaging and spectral instruments observing in the visible, EUV, X-ray, and radio wavelengths, the detection of oscillations in the solar outer atmosphere has become a routine event. These oscillations are considered to be the signatures of a wave phenomenon and are generally interpreted in terms of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. With multiwavelength observations from ground-and space-based instruments, it has been possible to detect waves in a number of different wavelengths simultaneously and, consequently, to study their propagation properties. Observed MHD waves propagating from the lower solar atmosphere into the higher regions of the magnetized corona have the potential to provide excellent insight into the physical processes at work at the coupling point between these different regions of the Sun. High-resolution wave observations combined with forward MHD modeling can give an unprecedented insight into the connectivity of the magnetized solar atmosphere, which further provides us with a realistic chance to reconstruct the structure of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere. This type of solar exploration has been termed atmospheric magnetoseismology. In this review we will summarize some new trends in the observational study of waves and oscillations, discussing their origin and their propagation through the atmosphere. In particular, we will focus on waves and oscillations in open magnetic structures (e.g., solar plumes) and closed magnetic structures (e.g., 4 D. Banerjee et al. loops and prominences), where there have been a number of observational highlights in the past few years. Furthermore, we will address observations of waves in filament fibrils allied with a better characterization of their propagating and damping properties, the detection of prominence oscillations in UV lines, and the renewed interest in large-amplitude, quickly attenuated, prominence oscillations, caused by flare or explosive phenomena.

The Solar Eclipse Corona Imaging System (SECIS) was used to record high‐cadence observations of the solar corona during the total solar eclipse of 1999 August 11. During the 2 min 23.5 s of totality, 6364 images were recorded simultaneously in each of the two channels: a white light channel, and the Fe xiv (5303 Å) ‘green line’ channel (T∼2 MK). Here we report initial results from the SECIS experiment, including the discovery of a 6‐s intensity oscillation in an active region coronal loop.

Abstract. We report here on an investigation of high frequency oscillations in active regions, carried out using high cadence observations of O v 629Å, Mg ix 368Å and Fe xvi 335Å with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (cds) on soho. Using the techniques of wavelet analysis on various temporal series datasets, we find that certain oscillation frequencies are favoured for each line. We find furthermore that a ∼5 min oscillation signature is commonly present in all lines, suggesting a coupling of the photospheric driver with the transition region and coronal loop modes. We report on the tendency for higher frequency oscillations to be present at lower intensity values, suggesting that higher frequency oscillations occur in interloop regions or at loop boundaries, possibly as a result of some resonant absorption process. In addition, we find that the coronal lines of Fe xvi and Mg ix show more significant oscillations in the velocity than in the intensity, which suggests that in the velocity we measure additional non-compressive wave modes not visible in the intensity. As this effect is not seen in the transition region line of O v it would seem that these additional non-compressive modes are produced in and limited to the corona. We suggest that there are two main mechanisms responsible for the observed oscillations; either resonant Alfvén and/or fast kink waves or propagating slow magnetoacoustic waves, both present in coronal loops.

Abstract. We present results of an analysis of time series data observed in sunspot umbral regions. The data were obtained in the context of the SOHO Joint Observing Program (JOP) 97 in September 2000. This JOP included the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) and the Michelson Doppler Imaging (MDI) instrument, both part of SOHO, the TRACE satellite and various ground based observatories. The data was analysed by using both Fourier and wavelet time series analysis techniques. We find that oscillations are present in the umbra at all temperatures investigated, from the temperature minimum as measured by TRACE 1700Å up to the upper corona as measured by CDS Fe xvi 335Å (log T = 6.4 K). Oscillations are found to be present with frequencies in the range of 5.4 mHz (185 s) to 8.9 mHz (112 s). Using the techniques of cross-spectral analysis time delays were found between low and high temperature emission suggesting the possibility of both upward and downward wave propagation. It is found that there is typically a good correlation between the oscillations measured at the different emission temperatures, once the time delays are taken into account. We find umbral oscillations both inside and outside of sunspot plume locations which indicates that umbral oscillations can be present irrespective of the presence of these sunspot plumes. We find that a number of oscillation frequencies can exist co-spatially and simultaneously i.e. for one pixel location three different frequencies at 5.40, 7.65 and 8.85 mHz were measured. We investigate the variation of the relative amplitudes of oscillation with temperature and find that there is a tendency for the amplitudes to reach a maximum at the temperature of O iii (and less typically O v and Mg ix) and then to decrease to reach a minimum at the temperature of Mg x (log T = 6.0 K), before increasing again at the temperature of Fe xvi. We discuss a number of possible theoretical scenarios that might explain these results. From a measurement of propagation speeds we suggest that the oscillations we observe are due to slow magnetoacoustic waves propagating up along the magnetic field lines.