Active Region Transient Events Observed with TRACE

Abstract

Nearly all active region observations made by the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) contain seemingly spontaneous, short-lived brightenings in small-scale loops. In this paper, we present an analysis of these brightenings using high-cadence TRACE observations of Active Region 9506 on 2001 June 21 from 15:17:00 to 15:46:00 UT. During this time frame, several brightenings were observed over a neutral line in a region of emerging flux that had intensity signatures in both the 171 Å (logT_e~6.0) and 1600 Å (logT_e~4.0-5.0) channels. The events had a cross-sectional diameter of approximately 2" and a length of 25". We interpret these as reconnection events associated with flux emergence, possible EUV counterparts to active region transient brightenings.