IRIS Observations of the Low-atmosphere Counterparts of Active Region Outflows

Active region (AR) outflows have been studied in detail since the launch of Hinode/EIS and are believed to provide a possible source of mass and energy to the slow solar wind. In this work, we investigate the lower atmospheric counterpart of AR outflows using observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). We find that the IRIS Si iv , C ii, and Mg ii transition region (TR) and chromospheric lines exhibit different spectral features in the outflows as compared to neighboring regions at the footpoints (“moss”) of hot AR loops. The average redshift of Si iv in the outflow region (≈5.5 km s −1 ) is smaller than typical moss (≈12–13 km s −1 ) and quiet Sun (≈7.5 km s −1 ) values, while the C ii line is blueshifted (≈-1.1–1.5 km s −1 ), in contrast to the moss where it is observed to be redshifted by about ≈2.5 km s −1 . Further, we observe that the low atmosphere underneath the coronal outflows is highly structured, with the presence of blueshifts in Si iv and positive Mg ii k2 asymmetries (which can be interpreted as signatures of chromospheric upflows) which are mostly not observed in the moss. These observations show a clear correlation between the coronal outflows and the chromosphere and TR underneath, which has not been shown before. Our work strongly suggests that these regions are not separate environments and should be treated together, and that current leading theories of AR outflows, such as the interchange reconnection model, need to take into account the dynamics of the low atmosphere.