The morphology of the solar upper atmosphere during the sunspot minimum

Abstract

The solar upper atmosphere (SUA) is defined as the volume above the photosphere occupied by plasmas with electron temperatures, T e, above ≈ 2×104 K. Until the Skylab era, only little was known about the morphology of the SUA, while the quality of the spectroscopic observations was continually improving. A spherically symmetric atmosphere was assumed at that time, in which the temperature increased with height. With advances in the observational techniques, it became apparent that the morphology of the SUA was very complex even during the minimum of the magnetic activity cycle. In particular, spectroscopic measurements with high spectral and spatial resolution, which were made in the light of ultraviolet emission lines representing a variety of temperatures, led to the conclusion that most of the radiation from the solar transition region could not be explained by assuming a continuous chromosphere-corona interface, but rather by a region of unresolved fine structures. Recent observational results obtained by modern instruments, such as the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT), the Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO), and the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of (SUMER) spectrograph on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), as well as the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), and their interpretations will be presented in this review of our understanding of the morphology of the SUA.