| In this thesis we examine high resolution Dopplergrams in CIV (1548) for the purpose of understanding the large-scale dynamics of solar active regions and the closely related problem of magnetic structure. The Dopplergrams are compared with photospheric magnetograms and H(,(alpha)) filtergrams in order to determine the relationship of the flows to the overall magnetic field topology. These observations sample three different heights in the atmosphere and can potentially be used to map the field from the photosphere up through the transition region. Vector properties of the flow and field are inferred from center-to-limb variations in the measured Doppler shift and longitudinal field component.; We find that spatial correlations between features seen in Dopplergrams, magnetograms, and filtergrams are quite close, and that active regions can be naturally divided into three basic parts: strong field regions, weak field corridors between opposite polarities, and surrounding weak field areas. Strong field regions are relatively red shifted and contain magnetic fields that penetrate the photosphere in a nearly vertical fashion. Corridors and surrounding areas are relatively blue shifted, on the other hand, and contain fields that are mostly horizontal in the upper photosphere and chromosphere. The transition from vertical to horizontal field appears to be quite sharp and implies a magnetic topology that diverges very rapidly with height.; Sizable uncertainties in the Dopplergram interpretation have prevented us from describing the transition region flows unambiguously. We can, however, identify two possible scenarios that are consistent with the data. In the most likely of the two, the flows vanish within corridors and surrounding areas, and they produce constant (across the disk) absolute red shifts of about 18 km/s within strong field regions. The physical causes of this last result are unclear, and it remains an important unsolved problem. |
