On the temporal evolution of spicules observed with IRIS, SDO and Hinode

Abstract

Spicules are ubiquitous, fast moving jets observed off-limb in chromospheric spectral lines. Combining the recently-launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph with the Solar Dynamics Observatory and Hinode, we have a unique opportunity to study spicules simultaneously in multiple passbands and from a seeing free environment. This makes it possible to study their thermal evolution over a large range of temperatures. A recent study showed that spicules appear in several chromospheric and transition region spectral lines, suggesting that spicules continue their evolution in hotter passbands after they fade from Ca II H. In this follow-up paper we answer some of the questions that were raised in the introductory study. In addition, we study spicules off-limb in C II 1330 Å for the first time. We find that Ca II H spicules are more similar to Mg II 2796 Å spicules than initially reported. For a sample of 54 spicules, we find that 44% of Si IV 1400 Å spicules are brighter toward the top; 56% of the spicules show an increase in Si IV emission when the Ca II H component fades. We find several examples of spicules that fade from passbands other than Ca II H, and we observe that if a spicule fades from a passband, it also generally fades from the passbands with lower formation temperatures. We discuss what these new, multi-spectral results mean for the classification of type I and II spicules.