Berger, T. E., B. de Pontieu, L. Fletcher, C. J. Schrijver, T. D. Tarbell, and A. M. Title, What is Moss?, Sol. Phys., 190, 409-418 (1999) (ADS)
(click on the image for a larger version)
The title asks a silly question but the paper then goes on to broaden
our horizons. Solar "moss" seems to be one of those items in the
mass of solar dermatology that really does deserve a new name, and
at least "moss" - the name inspired, the Archivist believes, by the
random choice of a richly green color table - was not known until
X-ray and EUV images of solar active regions could be compared.
This cartoon has little to do with how solar flares work, except
that the coronal loops of solar flares do result in moss patches.
This would be "spreading moss" as it follows the ribbon expansion
of the gradual phase of the flare.
As such it provides key information about the process of
"chromospheric evaporation",
a somewhat unfortunate neologism that's the jargon.
What does the cartoon actually show?
Before answering, please see the
full color version.
For sure the legend "not to scale" is a gross understatement; the Archivist
thinks that the content is meant to represent one unit of moss.
The texture of the images suggests somebody's lawn, but it is composed
of spicule-like structures and no doubt, as this cartoon hints,
the connectivity of the field in closed regions near the "open" ones
has real physical signficance.
The title asks a silly question but the paper then goes on to broaden our horizons. Solar "moss" seems to be one of those items in the mass of solar dermatology that really does deserve a new name, and at least "moss" - the name inspired, the Archivist believes, by the random choice of a richly green color table - was not known until X-ray and EUV images of solar active regions could be compared. This cartoon has little to do with how solar flares work, except that the coronal loops of solar flares do result in moss patches. This would be "spreading moss" as it follows the ribbon expansion of the gradual phase of the flare. As such it provides key information about the process of "chromospheric evaporation", a somewhat unfortunate neologism that's the jargon.
What does the cartoon actually show? Before answering, please see the full color version. For sure the legend "not to scale" is a gross understatement; the Archivist thinks that the content is meant to represent one unit of moss. The texture of the images suggests somebody's lawn, but it is composed of spicule-like structures and no doubt, as this cartoon hints, the connectivity of the field in closed regions near the "open" ones has real physical signficance.