Abstract. We analyze oscillations in the solar atmosphere using image sequences from the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) in three ultraviolet passbands which sample the upper solar photosphere and low chromosphere. We exploit the absence of atmospheric seeing in TRACE data to furnish comprehensive Fourier diagnostics (amplitude maps, phase-difference spectra, spatio-temporal decomposition) for quiet-Sun network and internetwork areas with excellent sampling statistics. Comparison displays from the ground-based Ca ii H spectrometry that was numerically reproduced by Carlsson & Stein are added to link our results to the acoustic shock dynamics in this simulation. The TRACE image sequences confirm the dichotomy in oscillatory behaviour between network and internetwork and show upward propagation above the cutoff frequency, the onset of acoustic shock formation in the upper photosphere, phase-difference contrast between pseudo-mode ridges and the interridge background, enhanced three-minute modulation aureoles around network patches, a persistent low-intensity background pattern largely made up of internal gravity waves, ubiquitous magnetic flashers, and low-lying magnetic canopies with much low-frequency modulation. The spatio-temporal occurrence pattern of internetwork grains is found to be dominated by acoustic and gravity wave interference. We find no sign of the high-frequency sound waves that have been proposed to heat the quiet chromosphere, but such measurement is hampered by non-simultaneous imaging in different passbands. We also find no signature of particular low-frequency fluxtube waves that have been proposed to heat the network. However, internal gravity waves may play a role in their excitation.

Abstract. We study the low-frequency brightness modulation of internetwork regions in the low solar chromosphere using simultaneous ultraviolet and white-light image sequences from the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE). The ultraviolet sequences exhibit a slowly varying brightness pattern in internetwork regions on which the more familiar acoustic three-minute oscillation is superimposed, with about half of the peak brightness reached in internetwork grains contributed by the low-frequency background. We address the nature of the latter, applying two-dimensional Fourier filtering to isolate it from the acoustic modulation. Spatio-temporal comparisons and selective time-delay scatter correlations between the ultraviolet and white-light low-frequency sequences establish that reversed granulation constitutes at most a minor part of the ultraviolet background. Fourier analysis shows that the meso-scale contribution dominates and consists of atmospheric gravity waves.

Abstract. We present high-quality Ca  H & K data showing chromospheric flashes in sunspot umbrae collected with the Swedish Vacuum Solar Telescope, the Dutch Open Telescope, and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma. Differential movies, time slices, spectrograms, and Fourier power maps demonstrate that umbral flashes and running penumbral waves are closely related oscillatory phenomena, combining upward shock propagation with coherent wave spreading over the entire spot. We attribute the flash brightening to large redshift by post-shock material higher up. We find no obvious relation between umbral dots and umbral flashes.

Abstract. We analyse a 7 d (167 h) sequence of TRACE white-light images with 1 angular resolution taken at 1 min cadence. The TRACE resolution and the fast cadence allows us to produce maps of the horizontal flow fields with high angular (1 ) and temporal resolution (5 min). The field of view of 128 × 128 (≈93 Mm × 93 Mm) covers approximately an area of 10 to 30 supergranules. This area was followed during solar rotation. Magnetic flux was artificially inserted into the successive flow maps in the form of ephemeral regions with positive and negative polarity. The emergence rate of 2 × 10 22 Mx h −1 with an average flux per region of about 1.1 × 10 19 Mx produces a good reproduction of the chromospheric network as observed in images taken simultaneously at 1600 Å. In addition, we show that the quiet network can be maintained only if field elements of both polarities are inserted into the flow fields. Our analysis suggests that the network is fully replenished on a time scale of a day and the lifetimes of the magnetic elements are of a similar duration.

Abstract. We analyse white-light image sequences taken with the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) using an optimised local correlation tracking (LCT) method to measure the horizontal flows in the quiet solar photosphere with high spatial (1 arcsec) and temporal (5 min) resolution. Simultaneously taken nearultraviolet images from TRACE confirm that our LCT-determined flows recover the actual supergranulation pattern, thus proving that the topology of the horizontal flow distribution and network assembly may be studied from long-duration TRACE white-light sequences with our method.