HR: 1330h
AN: SH13C-10    [Abstracts]
TI: Another Piece of the Elephant: Chromospheric Vector Field Observations
AU: * Leka, K D
EM: leka@cora.nwra.com
AF: NorthWest Research Associates, Inc., Colorado Research Associates Division, 3380 Mitchell Ln., Boulder, CO 80301 United States
AU: Metcalf, T R
EM: metcalf@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed-Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Dept L9-31, B252 3251 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA 94304 United States
AU: Mickey, D L
EM: mickey@ifa.hawaii.edu
AF: Intitute for Astronomy, U. Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AB: As with most solar observational questions, investigating the structure and role of the chromosphere is one of remote sensing: many investigations describing their "piece of the elephant". The goal is, of course, to form a coherent picture of the state of the magnetized plasma which resides there (or passes through). In this presentation, recent efforts to understand the chromospheric magnetic field structure via direct observation, i.e. chromospheric vector magnetograms, will be presented. Since late 2003, the U. Hawai`i/Mees Solar Observatory's Imaging Vector Magnetograph has routinely acquired spectropolarimetry measurements of active regions across the Na-I 589.6nm line; from the polarization at the line's near-wings approximately 0.007nm from line center we deduce the vector magnetic field. The data are specific to active regions, with the focus being the structure, free energy storage and evolution at that low-chromospheric layer. I will present salient aspects of the observed chromospheric magnetic field structure, to compare and contrast with the picture formed by the other methods in this session.
DE: 7500 SOLAR PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND ASTRONOMY
DE: 7507 Chromosphere
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly