Measurement of the Height of the Chromospheric Network Emission from Solar Dynamics Observatory Images

TL;DR

This study measures the heights of different chromospheric emissions in the solar atmosphere using SDO images, providing data to refine atmospheric models and understand solar structure.

Contribution

The paper presents new height measurements of chromospheric emissions at multiple wavelengths and their variation with solar position and cycle, enhancing solar atmospheric modeling.

Findings

304 Å emission forms ~3.6 Mm above 1600 Å near the limb.

1600 Å emission is ~0.5 Mm above HMI 6173 Å.

Height differences vary between disk center and limb.

Abstract

We measured the height of the chromospheric network in the 1700, 1600, and 304 A wavelength bands of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) from the shift of features on the disk with respect to corresponding features in SDO/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) images of the absolute value of the longitudinal magnetic field. We found that near the limb the 304 A network emission forms 3.60$\pm$0.24 Mm above the 1600 A emission, which, in turn, forms 0.48$\pm$0.10 Mm above the HMI (6173 A) level. At the center of the disk the corresponding height differences are 2.99$\pm$0.02 Mm and 0.39$\pm$0.06 Mm respectively. We also found that the 1600 A network emission forms 0.25$\pm$0.02 Mm above the 1700 A emission near the limb and 0.20$\pm$0.02 Mm at the disk center. Finally, we examined possible variations with the solar cycle. Our results can help to check and refine atmospheric models.