HR: 17:45h
AN: SH24A-08    [Abstracts]
TI: Solar transition region reconnection
AU: Bernd, N
AF: Max-Planck.Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, Katlenburg-Lindau, 37191 Germany
AU: * Buechner, J
EM: buechner@mps.mpg.de
AF: Max-Planck.Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, Katlenburg-Lindau, 37191 Germany
AU: Otto, A
AF: University of Alaska, Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 United States
AB: In order to identify the primary sites of coronal heating caused by a relaxation of the currents which are due to the footpoint motion of magnetic loops we developed a special MHD simulation approach which utilizes plasma-physical results about current dissipation, starting with observed photospheric magnetic fields and their displacements. Using photospheric magnetic fields measured by SOHO's MDI we obtained that the most intensive reconnection processes take place at the transition region between the chromosphere and corona, where the plasma density drops and the temperature jumps up. As the reason for this effect we identified the enhanced velocity of the current carriers concentrated in thin sheets at the edge of the chromosphere which exactly there causes collisionless current dissipation and, finally, reconnection.
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7843 Numerical simulation studies
DE: 6050 Plasma and MHD instabilities
DE: 2772 Plasma waves and instabilities
DE: 3210 Modeling
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting