We present results of investigations into chromospheric velocity oscillations in sunspots, carried out at the Sayan Solar Observatory. It is shown that the "chevron" structures in the spacetime diagrams demonstrate wavetrain properties. Such structures are indicators of a propagating wave process and they are typical of many sunspots. In the authors' opinion, three-minute umbral oscillations are not the source of running penumbral waves (RPW). It is very likely that umbral oscillations and RPW initially propagate along different magnetic field lines. We explain the decrease in RPW propagation velocity and frequency in the outer penumbra, as compared with the inner, by the combined action of different frequency modes. To better reveal the properties of these modes, frequency filtering was used. Our measurements of the RPW (five-minute mode) wavelength and RPW propagation velocity in different sunspots vary from 12 to 30 and from 28 to 60 -70 km s −1 correspondingly.

Abstract. We investigate the line-of-sight velocity oscillations in the sunspot NOAA 0051 during its disk transit. The data obtained in this study provide evidence for the existence of running umbral waves in the chromosphere. These waves have a period of 2.8 min and propagate from the sunspot center outward with the phase velocity of 45-60 km s −1 with the line-of-sight velocity amplitude of about 2 km s −1 . In most cases the waves terminate rather abruptly on the umbra boundary and show no direct linkage with running penumbral waves. The spatial coherence of the waves at the umbra center is no more than 2 . At the photospheric level there are clearly pronounced periodic motions (T ∼ 5 min) propagating from the inner penumbral boundary and from the superpenumbra to the lines of maximum Evershed velocity.

Context. The height structure of 3-min oscillations over sunspots is studied in the context of the recently discovered effect of height inversion: over the umbra, the spatial location of the maximum of chromospheric 3-min oscillation power corresponds to the relative decrease in the power of photospheric oscillations. Aims. We investigate whether the height inversion of the power of 3-min oscillations is a common feature of the spatial structure of the oscillations for the majority of sunspots.Methods. Spectrogram sequences of Hα 6563 Å and Fe i 6569 Å over sunspots, acquired with very high cadency (about 2 s or better) are obtained. The distribution of the oscillation power of the line-of-sight velocity signal is studied by using methods of wavelet frequency filtration and Fourier analysis.Results. The effect of the height inversion is found in 9 of 11 analyzed active regions. The interpretation of this effect is possibly connected to both the decrease in the level of photosphere in sunspot umbrae and the magnetic field topology.

Oscillation properties in two sunspots and two facular regions are studied using Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) data and groundbased observations in the Si i 10827Å and He i 10830Å lines. The aim is to study different-frequency spatial distribution characteristics above sunspots and faculae and their dependence on magnetic-field features and to detect the oscillations that reach the corona from the deep photosphere most effectively. We used Fast-Fourier-Transform and frequency filtration of the intensity and Doppler-velocity variations with Morlet wavelet to trace the wave propagating from the photosphere to the chromosphere and corona. Spatial distribution of lowfrequency (1 -2 mHz) oscillations outlines well the fan-loop structures in the corona (the Fe ix 171 Å line) above sunspots and faculae. Highfrequency oscillations (5 -7 mHz) are concentrated in fragments inside the photospheric umbra boundaries and close to facular-region centers. This implies that the upper parts of most coronal loops, which transfer low-frequency oscillations from the photosphere, sit in the Fe ix 171 Å line-formation layer. We used dominant frequency vs. distance from barycenter relations to estimate magnetic-tube inclination angle in the higher layers, which poses difficulties for direct magnetic-field measurements. According to our calculations, this angle is ≈40°in the transition region around umbra borders. Phase velocities measured in the coronal loops' upper parts in the Fe ix 171 Å line-formation layer reach 100 -150 km s −1 for sunspots and 50 -100 km s −1 for faculae.

Context. An analysis of the oscillations above sunspots was carried out using simultaneous ground-based and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations (Si  10827 Å, He  10830 Å, Fe  6173 Å, 1700 Å, He  304 Å, Fe  171 Å). Aims. Investigation of the spatial distribution of oscillation power in the frequency range 1-8 mHz for the different height levels of the solar atmosphere. Measuring the time lags between the oscillations at the different layers. Methods. We used frequency filtration of the intensity and Doppler velocity variations with Morlet wavelet to trace the wave propagation from the photosphere to the chromosphere and the corona. Results. The 15 min oscillations are concentrated near the outer penumbra in the upper photosphere (1700 Å), forming a ring that expands in the transition zone. These oscillations propagate upward and reach the corona level, where their spatial distribution resembles a fan structure. The spatial distribution of the 5 min oscillation power looks like a circle-shape structure matching the sunspot umbra border at the photospheric level. The circle expands at the higher levels (He  304 Å and Fe  171 Å). This indicates that the low-frequency oscillations propagate along the inclined magnetic tubes in the spot. We found that the inclination of the tubes reaches 50−60 degrees in the upper chromosphere and the transition zone. The main oscillation power in the 5-8 mHz range concentrates within the umbra boundaries at all the levels. The highest frequency oscillations (8 mHz) are located in the peculiar points inside the umbra. These points probably coincide with umbral dots. We deduced the propagation velocities to be 28 ± 15 km s −1 , 26 ± 15 km s −1 , and 55 ± 10 km s −1 for the Si  10827 Å-He  10830 Å, 1700 Å-He  304 Å, and He  304 Å-Fe  171 Å height levels, respectively.

The differences between physical conditions in solar faculae and those in sunspots and quiet photosphere (increased temperature and different magnetic field topology) suggest that oscillation characteristics in facula areas may also have different properties. The analysis of 28 time series of simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations in facula photosphere (Fe I 6569 Å, 8538 Å) and chromosphere (Hα, Ca II 8542 Å) yields the following results. The amplitude of five-minute oscillations of line-of-sight (LOS) velocity decreases by 20 -40% in facula photosphere. There are only some cases revealing the inverse effect. The amplitude of four-to five-minute LOS velocity oscillations increases significantly in the chromosphere above faculae, and power spectra fairly often show pronounced peaks in a frequency range of 1.3 -2.5 mHz. Evidence of propagating oscillations can be seen from space -time diagrams. We have found oscillations of the longitudinal magnetic field (1.5 -2 mHz and 5.2 mHz) inside faculae.

The nature of the three-minute and five-minute oscillations observed in sunspots is considered to be an effect of propagation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves from the photosphere to the solar corona. However, the real modes of these waves and the nature of the filters that result in rather narrow frequency bands of these modes are still far from being generally accepted in spite of a large amount of observational material obtained in a wide range of wave bands of observations. The significance of this field of research is based on the hope that local seismology can be used to find the structure of the solar atmosphere in magnetic tubes of sunspots. We expect that substantial progress can be achieved by simultaneous observations of the sunspot oscillations in different layers of the solar atmosphere in order to gain information on propagating waves. In this study we used a new method that combines the results of an oscillation study made in optical and radio observations. The optical spectral measurements in photospheric and chromospheric lines of the line-of-sight velocity were carried out at the Sayan Solar Observatory. The radio maps of the Sun were obtained with the Nobeyama Radioheliograph at 1.76 cm. Radio sources associated with the sunspots were analyzed to study the oscillation processes in the chromospherecorona transition region in the layer with magnetic field B = 2000 G. A high level of instability of the oscillations in the optical and radio data was found. We used a wavelet analysis for the spectra. The best similarities of the spectra of oscillations obtained by the two methods were detected in the three-minute oscillations inside the sunspot umbra for the dates when the active regions were situated near the center of the solar disk. A comparison of the wavelet spectra for optical and radio observations showed a time delay of about 50 seconds of the radio results with respect to optical ones. This implies a MHD wave traveling upward inside the umbral magnetic tube of the sunspot. For the five-minute oscillations the similarity in spectral details could be found only for optical oscillations at the chromospheric level in the umbra region or very close to it. The time delays seem to be similar. Besides three-minute and five-minute ones, oscillations with longer periods (8 and 15 minutes) were detected in optical and radio records. Their nature still requires further observational and theoretical study though for even a preliminary discussion.

No abstract