Dynamics of Polar Plumes Observed at the 1998 February 26 Eclipse

Abstract

This paper presents first observations of dynamics of the white-light solar corona detected during the few minutes of totality of a solar eclipse. Perturbations of a polar plume associated with an embedded ‘jet’ structure observed simultaneously at 195 A with the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) aboard the SOHO spacecraft lead to estimates of the electron density fluctuations accompanying the jet: ±15%. The morphological behavior of the jet, its apparent upward propagation speed of ≈ 200 km s−1, and the inferred density perturbations suggest that the jet is led by a weak, outward-propagating shock resulting from the injection of material at high velocity at the base of the corona. Smaller perturbations of the white-light corona are apparent at many other locations, sustaining hope that propagating Alfven waves may be measurable in the solar corona. Density perturbations associated with the jet follow from empirical electron density models of the polar inter-plume and plume regions, as derived from the ground-based eclipse measurements of coronal polarization brightness. These models indicate polar plume densities 4–6 times that of the interplume low corona.