Figure 1: Configuration of magnetic tubes in the solar corona.
From: Modelling the influence of photospheric turbulence on solar flare statistics
The photospheric plasma is in a turbulent state, where yellow (black) areas denote high (low) vorticity regions. The green and pink lines represent the magnetic lines enclosed in the magnetic flux tubes (semi-transparent grey tori). The pink magnetic lines indicate a magnetic flux tube that has reached the critical twist and, therefore, is at the onset of reconnection, about to release its energy as a flare.
