The impact of a filament eruption on nearby high-lying cool loops

Abstract

The first spectroscopic observations of cool Mg II loops above the solar limb observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) are presented. During the observation period, IRIS is pointed off-limb, allowing the observation of high-lying loops, which reach over 70 Mm in height. Low-lying cool loops were observed by the IRIS slit-jaw camera for the entire four-hour observing window. There is no evidence of a central reversal in the line profiles, and the Mg II h/k ratio is approximately two. The Mg II spectral lines show evidence of complex dynamics in the loops with Doppler velocities reaching ±40 km s-1. The complex motions seen indicate the presence of multiple threads in the loops and separate blobs. Toward the end of the observing period, a filament eruption occurs that forms the core of a coronal mass ejection. As the filament erupts, it impacts these high-lying loops, temporarily impeding these complex flows, most likely due to compression. This causes the plasma motions in the loops to become blueshifted and then redshifted. The plasma motions are seen before the loops themselves start to oscillate as they reach equilibrium following the impact. The ratio of the Mg h/k lines also increases following the impact of the filament. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.