3D Coronal Slow Modes: Towards 3D Seismology

On 2008 January 10, the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) A and B spacecraft conducted a high time cadence study of the solar corona with the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) instruments with the aim of investigating coronal dynamics. Observations of the three-dimensional propagation of waves within active region coronal loops and a measurement of the true coronal slow mode speed are obtained. Intensity oscillations with a period of ≈12 minutes are observed to propagate outwards from the base of a loop system, consistent with the slow magnetoacoustic mode. A novel analysis technique is applied to measure the wave phase velocity in the observations of the A and B spacecraft. These stereoscopic observations are used to infer the three-dimensional velocity vector of the wave propagation, with an inclination of 37± 6 to the local normal and a magnitude of 132± 9 and 132± 11 km s, giving the first measurement of the true coronal longitudinal slow mode speed, and an inferred temperature of 0.84± 12 MK and 0.84± 15 MK. Subject headings: MHD — Sun: atmospheric motions — Sun: corona — Sun: oscillations — Stars: oscillations — Waves