The combination of high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution, which are achieved with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST), led to the discovery of so-called `chromospheric swirls’ in 2009. These small-scale rotating structures have diameters of only a few arcseconds and live for a few minutes. Recent observations with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory exhibit enhanced emission originating from the transition region and corona at the same locations as chromospheric swirls and photospheric magnetic brightpoints. In a publication in Nature in June 2012, the physical process behind was identified as rotating magnetic field structures on small spatial scales, named “magnetic tornadoes”, which extend from the photosphere into the corona. The study also included three-dimensional numerical simulations that illustrate this tornado-like phenomenon in detail. The simulations show that photospheric vortex flows force the footpoints of magnetic field structures to rotate. The magnetic field then mediates the rotation into the upper atmosphere. The result is a net energy flux into the upper solar atmosphere where the energy is dissipated. Magnetic tornadoes could thus provide an alternative but efficient energy channel. The resulting overall contribution to heating the upper solar atmosphere could be substantial because vortex flows and magnetic fields are abundantly observed on the Sun. This process may also work in the atmospheres of other cool stars.
