Algorithmically Identifying Upflows and Downflows in the Solar Chromosphere and Transition Region using IRIS MgII Observations

Authors: Vicki Herde (LASP), Phil Chamberlin (LASP), Don Schmit (LASP), Vanessa Polito (BAERI), Ryan Milligan (QUB), Adrian Nigel (GSFC)

It’s well-known that the Solar corona is much hotter and more energy-dense than our current scientific understanding can explain.  Sources of energy to the corona vary from large-scale flares, coronal mass ejections, and reconnection events down to small-scale nanoflares, spicules, and simple upwellings of hot plasma.  If we assume a power-law distribution of events where the largest events happen infrequently while the smallest events happen constantly, the small events may end up contributing more energy overall than larger events. Due to their small size, it can be difficult to observe and measure these small events. This poster presents a method for algorithmically identifying thousands of small-scale upflows and downflows in the Solar chromosphere using Magnesium II spectral observations from the IRIS spacecraft. It also provides statistical information about event occurrences compared to HMI measurements of magnetic field strength.