Solar Flare Precursors (Sigmoids) Are Electric! Venus too?

[MGmirkin]

I was quite pleased to see an article today that does a little justice, finally!

(Solar Sigmoids Explained; [The title is deceptively jargony! Thus it will probably not be widely read.])
http://www.physorg.com/news159460745.html
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/20 ... explained/
http://www.astroengine.com/?p=4885

'Sigmoids' are S-shaped structures found in the outer atmosphere of the Sun (the corona), seen with X-ray telescopes and thought to be a crucial part of explosive events like solar flares. Now a group of astronomers have developed the first model to reproduce and explain the nature of the different stages of a sigmoid’s life.

[...]

Recently, the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) on board the Hinode space mission was used to obtain the first images of the formation and eruption phase of a sigmoid at high resolution. These observations revealed that the structure of the sigmoid is complex: it consists of many, differently oriented, loops that all together form two opposite J-like bundles or an overall S-shape. They also showed that at the end of its life the sigmoid produces a 'flare' eruption.

[...]

The new model describes how sigmoids consist of many thin and twisted layers (or ribbons) of strong electric current. When these layers interact it leads to the formation of the observed powerful flares and the eruption of strong magnetic fields which carry highly energetic particles into interplanetary space.

[...]

“Sigmoids work as 'mangers' or 'cocoons' for solar eruptions. There is a high probability that they will result in powerful eruptions and other explosive events. Our model helps scientists understand how this happens.”

Bam!

But wait, there's more. What they don't apparently realize yet, is that they may have just neatly verified Wal Thornhill's explanation of Venus' double-eyed polar vortices!

Yep, everyone's forgotten about those... Well, ALMOST everyone. Frankly it was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the Sigmoids. I thought, "Wait! That's the Venusian polar vortex structure!"

Am I wrong here?

(Solar Sigmoids)
http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content ... igmoid.jpg
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/20 ... arsigmoid/
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/20 ... explained/

This figure shows the time evolution and final eruption of the sigmoid. Credit: NASA / STFC / ISAS / JAXA / A. Hood (St. Andrews), V. Archontis (St. Andrews)

(Venusian Vortices)
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/Sci ... anim_H.gif
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCTD0CYTE_in ... l#subhead2
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMCTD0CYTE_in ... l#subhead2

Venus' south polar vortex at several infrared wavelengths. Copyright: ESA/VIRTIS/INAF-IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA

(Animations of Venus' vortices; I'd attach but it would kill download times for dial-up users.)
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=39671
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=39672

Ding, ding, ding! I think we have a match!

Granted, it's just a "qualitative visual identification..." *Cough*

That said, it might behoove to point out several of Wal Thornhill's articles from Holoscience that deal with the Venusian polar vortices (and their relation to Saturn's polar vortices, which he says will eventually be shown to have a similar structure to the Venusian poles [and I say both will probably match up well with the sigmoids, but that's just me]).

(2008—Year of the Electric Universe)
http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=66b0jzyh

(Venus isn't our twin!)
http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=9aqt6cz5

(Saturn's Strange Hot Spot Explained)
http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=1xz2g6tn

And a couple TPODs thrown in for good measure!

(Electric Dipole of Venus)
http://thunderbolts.info/tpod/2007/arch ... cvenus.htm

(Another “Double-Eye” of Venus)
http://thunderbolts.info/tpod/2006/arch ... bleeye.htm

Regards
~Michael Gmirkin

[MGmirkin]

(The 'Spiral Galaxy' at Saturn's Pole)
http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=4egjus1n

I reported in February 2005 that "…maybe things that can't be explained get forgotten! Saturn's 'warm polar vortex' is NOT 'the first to ever be discovered.' Professor F. W. Taylor reported the Venusian vortex in 1990. The Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) discovered a warm 'giant vortex of surprisingly complex structure and behaviour located in the middle atmosphere at the north pole of the planet, with a similar feature presumed to exist at the south pole also.'"

The above diagram shows the main characteristics of the Venusian polar dipole. The diameter of the collar is about 5000 km and the temperature contrast between the hottest part of the chevron and the coldest part of the collar is about 45 K. Credit: F. W. Taylor. Composite image: W. Thornhill.

In April 2006 I wrote "…we watch with great interest the data coming back from the Venus Express spacecraft. Already, in the first images from Venus, we find confirmation of an earlier prediction. On February 5, 2005, in explaining the mysterious north polar vortex on Venus, I wrote: "…we should expect to see evidence of the twisted pair configuration at the poles of Venus, if the input current is sufficiently strong and this model is correct." "The Venusian polar dipole shows the precise configuration and motion of Birkeland current pairs in plasma discharge experiments. That includes a surrounding spiral vortex."

Professor Taylor had written earlier about the Venusian north polar vortex: "the absence of viable theories which can be tested, or in this case any theory at all, leaves us uncomfortably in doubt as to our basic ability to understand even gross features of planetary atmospheric circulations." So there was no reason, other than an appeal to symmetry, for scientists to expect a similar vortex at the south pole of Venus. Based on the electrical model, I predicted that Venus' south pole would also have a vortex. I make the same prediction for Saturn's opposite (north) pole. Cassini scientists are unsure because the north pole is in darkness and receives no solar heat.

The view shows temperature data from the Cassini spacecraft Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) overlaid onto an image from the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) wide-angle camera. The CIRS data refer to a depth in Saturn’s upper stratosphere where the pressure is 0.5 millibars (324 kilometers above the 1-bar level). The CIRS data show a very small hot spot over the pole, similar in size to the “eye” of the storm seen in ISS images. Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/Space Science Institute.

The image above, while being incomplete, supports the electrical model. At around 300˚ we see the yellow-reddish cusp feature of one Birkeland filament. At intervals, heated gas from that filament is 'squirted' in a thin jet into the central 'sump,' indicated by the reddish patch over the pole. The inward jets alternate between the two filaments so we may expect the pattern to be repeated where the infrared data is missing.

Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin

[solrey]

Here's a link to the paper. They're starting to catch on, it seems.

http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~vasilis/sigmoid.pdf

[MGmirkin]

Here's a link to the paper. They're starting to catch on, it seems.

http://www-solar.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~vasilis/sigmoid.pdf

Hey, thanks! I was kind of looking for that. Will try to remember to take a look at it when I'm not drag-@$$ing after writing a TPOD rough draft at 1 in the morning...

Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin

[solrey]

Panels A and B show the formation of a flux tube above a strong current concentration. The current density is visualized with the transparent isosurface. Superimposed is the magnetic field vector (arrows). The colormap in panel B shows Jy.

A two-dimensional color representation of the current density at z=28 and t=120. Maximum values of the current density are found along the two J-like structures

After reading the paper, it seems what they have mapped/described are two interacting Birkeland currents, which form in areas of higher density of the overall drift current, above the double layer in the photosphere. The sigmoid is the path of current, flowing between the Birkeland currents and the "pinch" zone, caught in the opposing polarity of the two sheaths in the double layer. I believe this is what they describe as horizontal magnetic shear in the paper. A plasmoid forms in the pinch, as it's being ejected, it emits axial jets, inflowing electron beam, outflowing ion beam. The electron beam cools the plasmoid and the pinch, via the "electron cooling" mechanism, which disrupts the current flow, collapsing the magnetic fields which release all of the energy/particles that were trapped in the fields...Bam, solar flare/eruption.

Michael, I admire your dedication staying up so late to write a TPOD. Looking forward to reading that one, knowing that it was written in the wee hours of 4/20.

[Brigit Bara]

MGmirkin quoted,
The new model describes how sigmoids consist of many thin and twisted layers (or ribbons) of strong electric current. When these layers interact it leads to the formation of the observed powerful flares and the eruption of strong magnetic fields which carry highly energetic particles into interplanetary space.

That is really amazing. They have all the instrumentation and spacecraft to detect electricity in space--the flux tubes, the filamentation, the magnetic fields, the polar emissions, the accelerating particles--but they can't see it.

It's like watching someone "standing knee deep in a river, and dying of thirst."

Thanks for linking up the holoscience articles that go with the news. :)

[MGmirkin]

Looking forward to reading that one, knowing that it was written in the wee hours of 4/20.

But not 4/20 in the wee hours... *Cough*

We won't go there! I certainly didn't!

Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin

[MGmirkin]

Thanks for linking up the holoscience articles that go with the news.

I serve to live!

Hey, that's catchy, I should write that down! Would make a good bumper sticker...

Regards,
~Michael Gmirkin

[MGmirkin]

I'd link to a couple papers by Anthony Peratt on PIC simulations and general effects of interacting Birkeland currents, but his site seems to have gone MIA at the moment (404 error)? Wonder what gives... I've noticed a few other pages on LLNL's site have gone MIA or been moved around too. Wonder if they're reorganizing it?

Well, in any event, as I look, it seems the Internet Archive has quite helpfully stashed copies of his site up through 2007 (PDFs too, I assume!)...

http://web.archive.org/web/200704190207 ... apers.html

Will look for the specific papers I was thinking of later. [Found it!]

(Evolution of the Plasma Universe: I. Double Radio Galaxies, Quasars and Extragalactic Jets)
http://web.archive.org/web/200610020711 ... 6TPS-I.pdf

See figure #8 on pp. 10 of 22 and figure 12 on pp. 11 of the PDF. Compare to the image supplied by Solrey:



Cheers,
~Michael Gmirkin

[earls]

"The new model describes how sigmoids consist of many thin and twisted layers (or ribbons) of strong _electric current_."

http://www.physorg.com/news159460745.html
(FMV 4-22-09: Moved to EU forum. Merged with existing thread.)

[hyper.real]

It seems sigmoids are like buses - you wait ages for one, then three come along at once...

There is another one in view in Wal Thornhill's recent item The Black Hole at the Heart of Astronomy at http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=7qqsr17q.

About 4/5 of the way down there is an image captioned "Infrared image of the mini-spiral at the Galactic Center obtained with the Kuiper Widefield Infrared Camera on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Credit: H M Latkavoski et al., Cornell U."

So they are located: on the Sun; on planets; at the centre of the Milky Way. And I just thought -- at the eye of a cyclone?

[Solar]

Interesting comparison you make there Hyper.Real.

The image in the Holoscience article is also called the "The Circumnuclear Disk" and has three "arms". It is formed at the point of intersect with a "molecular cloud" and a massive (supposed) 80 light years long Birkeland current creating the plasma-focused plasmoid at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy known as Sag A*. The 'Seat' of the Cosmic Serpent.

See also: "Milky Way's Birkeland Current Falsifies "Black Hole" Assumption" and check the the links in the reference section.

Especially:
The Double Helix Nebula: a magnetic torsional wave propagating out of the Galactic centre

"A Trip to Galactic Center"

And NRAO's Galactic Center

Conjecture: The difference may be due to the Sigmoids formation at, or on, the Solar 'surface' as opposed to galactic scale Birkeland currents intersecting with the double-layer 'skin' of a molecular cloud in 'free space'. Nonetheless, a very interesting comparison if indeed there is any difference at all. The Sun has a double-layer also. Hmmm... I'm going to enjoy pondering that one. Galaxies as a 'Sigmoids Unleashed'.

Sounds like a really bad movie about nerds on steroids reeking havoc in the cafeteria.

[junglelord]

Charge geometry, clear and simple.

[MGmirkin]

There is another one in view in Wal Thornhill's recent item The Black Hole at the Heart of Astronomy at http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=7qqsr17q.

About 4/5 of the way down there is an image captioned "Infrared image of the mini-spiral at the Galactic Center obtained with the Kuiper Widefield Infrared Camera on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Credit: H M Latkavoski et al., Cornell U."

That one seems a bit more ambiguous, or at least not as well defined, since it's rather a busy image. And to be clear I think the Saturn one is a bit incomplete to be too jubilant just yet, but hopefully will be fleshed out as more observations are taken (relatively high confidence)... The Sigmoid vs. Venus one seems pretty cut and dried to me though.

~Michael Gmirkin

[Solar]

After reading the paper, it seems what they have mapped/described are two interacting Birkeland currents, which form in areas of higher density of the overall drift current, above the double layer in the photosphere. The sigmoid is the path of current, flowing between the Birkeland currents and the "pinch" zone, caught in the opposing polarity of the two sheaths in the double layer. I believe this is what they describe as horizontal magnetic shear in the paper. A plasmoid forms in the pinch, as it's being ejected, it emits axial jets, inflowing electron beam, outflowing ion beam. The electron beam cools the plasmoid and the pinch, via the "electron cooling" mechanism, which disrupts the current flow, collapsing the magnetic fields which release all of the energy/particles that were trapped in the fields...Bam, solar flare/eruption.

Agreed. Thats a very nice summary of the 16 pages simulating these intersecting regions of Birkeland current maxima. Although there's:

No direct mention of Marklund convection:

Higher in the atmosphere, the formation of current layers is mostly linked with the rise of the newly formed flux tubes and the movement of high velocity outflows due to reconnection.

No direct mention of Biot-Savart long-range attraction/short-range repulsion:

At low heights, new currents are formed when the fieldlines, that still have dips, come closer together. This process that leads to intense current concentration in between the fieldlines,

I think I'll keep the paper. Thank you Solrey.