Height variation of the vector magnetic field in solar spicules

Abstract

Proving the magnetic configuration of solar spicules has hitherto been difficult due to the lack of spatial resolution and image stability during off-limb ground-based observations. We report spectropolarimetric observations of spicules taken in the He I 1083 nm spectral region with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter II at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope of the Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife; Canary Islands; Spain). The data provide the variation with geometrical height of the Stokes I, Q, U, and V profiles whose encoded information allows the determination of the magnetic field vector by means of the HAZEL inversion code. The inferred results show that the average magnetic field strength at the base of solar spicules is about 80 gauss and then it decreases rapidly with height to about 30 gauss at a height of 3000 km above the visible solar surface. Moreover, the magnetic field vector is close to vertical at the base of the chromosphere and has mid inclinations (about 50 degree) above 2 Mm height.

Published in ApJ Letters

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• Height dependence of the penumbral fine-scale structure in the inner solar atmosphere
• Three-dimensional magnetic field structure of a flux emerging region in the solar atmosphere
• Ubiquitous hundred-Gauss magnetic fields in solar spicules
• Semi-empirical models of spicule from inversion of Ca II 8542 Å line
• Multi-wavelength spectropolarimetric observations of AR13724 performed by GRIS