title: Hot explosions in the cool atmosphere of the Sun.
abstract: The solar atmosphere was traditionally represented with a simple one-dimensional model. Over the past few decades, this paradigm shifted for the chromosphere and corona that constitute the outer atmosphere, which is now considered a dynamic structured envelope. Recent observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal that it is difficult to determine what is up and down, even in the cool 6000-kelvin photosphere just above the solar surface: This region hosts pockets of hot plasma transiently heated to almost 100,000 kelvin. The energy to heat and accelerate the plasma requires a considerable fraction of the energy from flares, the largest solar disruptions. These IRIS observations not only confirm that the photosphere is more complex than conventionally thought, but also provide insight into the energy conversion in the process of magnetic reconnection.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. peter@mps.mpg.de.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Curdt
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmit
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Innes
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: B
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authors.lastname: De Pontieu
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lemen
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Title
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boerner
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hurlburt
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Tarbell
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wuelser
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, 596 1st Street West, Sonoma, CA 95476, USA.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martínez-Sykora
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), 3251 Hanover Street, Building 252, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, 596 1st Street West, Sonoma, CA 95476, USA. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kleint
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Golub
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McKillop
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saar
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Post Office Box 173840, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kankelborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Post Office Box 173840, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaeggli
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Post Office Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hansteen