A chromospheric conundrum?

The VTT targets were areas near disk center which included quiet Sun and some dispersed plage. The infrared data included quiet Sun and plage associated with small pores.

Bright chromospheric network emission patches expand little with wavelength from line wing to line center, i.e., with increasing line opacity and height. We argue that this simple observation has implications for the force and energy balance of the chromosphere, since bright chromospheric network emission is traditionally associated with enhanced local mechanical heating which increases temperatures and pressures. Simple physical considerations then suggest that the network chromosphere may not be able to reach horizontal force balance with its surroundings, yet the network is a long-lived structure.