The nature of moss and lower atmospheric seismology

Abstract

The discovery of so-called solar ‘moss’, i.e. dynamic and bright upper transition region emission at chromospheric heights above active region plage, provides a novel diagnostic to probe the structure, dynamics, energetics and coupling of the magnetized solar chromosphere and transition region. We briefly review observations of the morphology and connectivity in the low solar atmosphere, with a particular focus on the propagation of oscillations and waves in the moss. We also present recent work that combines moss observations and numerical modelling, and which sheds light on the (quasi-periodic) formation of dynamic jets (spicules), and the propagation of normally evanescent oscillations into the corona. We also briefly explore how coronal oscillations could be exploited to determine the connectivity between photosphere and corona, i.e. perform seismology of the lower solar atmosphere.