Bridging the Gap: Capturing the Ly$\alpha$ Counterpart of a Type-II Spicule and its Heating Evolution with VAULT2.0 and IRIS Observations

TL;DR

This study combines VAULT2.0 Lyα and IRIS observations with simulations to analyze a type-II spicule, revealing that observed high speeds are due to a propagating heating front rather than actual mass motion.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the heating and dynamics of type-II spicules by integrating high-cadence Lyα data with IRIS observations and radiative-MHD simulations.

Findings

Spicular material remains at lower temperatures until heated.

Heating propagates upwards as a thermal front within the spicule.

High apparent speeds in network jets are due to a heating front, not mass flows.

Abstract

We present results from an observing campaign in support of the VAULT2.0 sounding rocket launch on September 30, 2014. VAULT2.0 is a Ly$\alpha$ (1216 \AA) spectroheliograph capable of providing spectroheliograms at high cadence. Ly$\alpha$ observations are highly complementary to the IRIS observations of the upper chromosphere and the low transition region (TR) but have previously been unavailable. The VAULT2.0 data provide new constraints on upper-chromospheric conditions for numerical models. The observing campaign was closely coordinated with the IRIS mission. Taking advantage of this simultaneous multi-wavelength coverage of target AR 12172 and by using state-of-the-art radiative-MHD simulations of spicules, we investigate in detail a type-II spicule associated with a fast (300 km s$^{-1}$) network jet recorded in the campaign observations. Our analysis suggests that spicular material exists suspended high in the atmosphere but in lower temperatures (seen in Ly$\alpha$) until it is heated and becomes visible in TR temperatures as a network jet. The heating begins lower in the spicule and propagates upwards as a rapidly propagating thermal front. The front is then observed as fast, plane-of-the-sky motion typical of a network jet, but contained inside the pre-existing spicule. This work supports that the high speeds reported in network jets should not be taken as real mass upflows but only as apparent speeds of a rapidly propagating heating front along the pre-existing spicule.