Detection of mesogranulation at the upper chromosphere from SOHO/SUMER observations

TL;DR

This study detects mesogranulation structures in the upper chromosphere using SOHO/SUMER spectral data, revealing their size, stability over hours, and consistency across different spectral lines, thus confirming their existence and characteristics.

Contribution

First detection of mesogranulation in the upper chromosphere through Fourier analysis of SUMER spectral data, establishing their size and temporal stability.

Findings

Mesogranulation has a scale of 9-10 arcsec in the upper chromosphere.

Mesogranulation shows no significant temporal evolution during the observation period.

The size of mesocells is consistent across different spectral lines and continuum.

Abstract

We have analyzed a time series of spectra in the hydrogen Lyman lines and the Lyman continuum obtained by the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) spectrometer on the SOlar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The time series of about 2 hours and 22 minutes was obtained on 1999 March 9 in a quiet region near the center of the solar disk. For our analysis, we have selected a Lyman continuum window around 907 A, and the five Lyman lines: Ly5 (937.8 A), Ly7 (926.2 A), Ly9 (920.9 A), Ly11 (918.1 A), and Ly15 (915.3 A). A Fast Fourier analysis has been performed in the spatial domain, all along the slit length used, for all the spectra and for the total duration of the observations. We have detected a significant periodic spatial variations with Fourier transform power peaks around 9-10 arcsec and at 4 arcsec. They correspond to the scale of the mesogranulation structure and the width of the supergranular boundary, respectively. For the first time, this provides evidence for the existence of a meso-scale in the upper chromosphere, of the same size as observed in the photosphere and lower chromosphere by earlier studies. We find from the analysis that there seems to be no signature of any temporal evolution associated with the mesogranules, at least not during our observing period. This result suggests that the life time of mesogranules will be several hours or more, which confirms the earlier findings. In addition, we notice that the size (9-10 arcsec) of the mesocells appears to be the same in all Lyman lines and in the continuum, which are formed at different depths in the chromosphere.