NSF Award
9122073
The authors propose to use new submillimeter and millimeter observations of the Sun from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) to model the low and middle chromospheres of sunspots and magnetic flux tubes in plage. This program will be a continuation of an exploratory solar program they recently completed to open the JCMT to solar research. Under this program, the JCMT gave the authors the first submillimeter observations of the chromospheric supergranular network, of sunspots, and of prominences, opening these fundamental solar phenomena to the powerful LTE diagnostic tools of the far infrared continuum. The new program will be based primarily on analysis of the large amount of high-quality data already obtained. However, further observations will also be made on the JCMT. These will include the development of improved mapping techniques, observations at longer wavelengths (out to 2 mm) and observations of intensity variations due to oscillations and possibly fares, using SCUBA, the 100 element bolometer array under development at the JCMT. The new program will also include preliminary analysis of observations of the total solar eclipse of 1991 July 11 over Mauna Kea.
