Observations
Wave and oscillatory phenomena are observed in the hot plasma of the corona mainly in EUV, optical and microwave bands with a number of spaceborne and ground-based instruments, e.g. the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), the Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH, see the Nobeyama radio observatory). Phenomenologically, researchers distinguish between compressible waves in polar plumes and in legs of large coronal loops, flare-generated transverse oscillations of loops, acoustic oscillations of loops, propagating kink waves in loops and in structures above arcades (an arcade being a close collection of loops in a cylindrical structure, see image to right), sausage oscillations of flaring loops, and oscillations of prominences and fibrils (see solar prominence), and this list is continuously updated.
Coronal seismology is one of the aims of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission.
A mission to send a spacecraft as close as 9 solar radii from the sun, NASA Solar probe, is planned for launch in 2015 and aims to provide in-situ measurements of the solar magnetic field, solar wind and corona. It should include a magnetometer and plasma wave sensor, allowing unprecedented observations for coronal seismology.
Read more about this topic: Coronal Seismology
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