Active region loops:: Temperature measurements as a function of time from joint TRACE and SOHO CDS observations

In this paper, we aim to quantitatively investigate the structure and time variation of quiescent active region loop structures. We coordinated a joint program of observations (JOP 146) using TRACE, to obtain high-cadence EUV images, and SOHO CDS, to obtain spectroscopic data. Loop intensities are used to determine temperature as a function of time for a single loop, taking full account of the background emission. In many locations, the emission measure loci are consistent with an isothermal structure. However, the results indicate significant changes in the loop temperature (between 1 and 2 MK) over the 6 hr observing period. It is possible that the loop structures are composed of multiple, independently heated strands with sizes less than the resolution of the imager and spectrometer.