ALMA Observations of the Solar Chromosphere on the Polar Limb

TL;DR

This study uses ALMA and IRIS observations to analyze the solar chromosphere at the polar limb, revealing dynamic jet-like structures and blob ejections with high spatial resolution.

Contribution

First high-resolution ALMA observations of the solar chromosphere on the polar limb, showing detailed jet-like activity and their correspondence with IRIS data.

Findings

Detection of saw-tooth limb patterns in ALMA images.

Observation of dynamic jet-like structures extending up to 8 arcsec.

Identification of blob ejection events along spicular patterns.

Abstract

We report the results of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the solar chromosphere on the southern polar limb. Coordinated observations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) are also conducted. ALMA provided unprecedented high spatial resolution in the millimeter band ($\approx$ 2.0 arcsec) at 100 GHz frequency with a moderate cadence (20 s). The results are as follows: (1) The ALMA 100 GHz images show saw-tooth patterns on the limb, and a comparison with SDO/AIA 171\AA\ images shows a good correspondence of the limbs with each other. (2) The ALMA 100 GHz movie shows a dynamic thorn-like structure elongating from the saw-tooth patterns on the limb, with lengths reaching at least 8 arcsec, thus suggesting jet-like activity in the ALMA microwave range. These ALMA jets are in good correspondence with IRIS jet clusters. (3) A blob ejection event is observed. By comparing with the IRIS Mg II slit-jaw images, the trajectory of the blob is located along the spicular patterns.