This grant will permit a series of observations of the Sun at submillimeter wavelengths using the 15 m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), which has recently become operational on Mauna Kea. This new telescope will allow observations of the Sun with an angular resolution far better than that attainable in the past. The program proposed here will have two parts: (1) detailed observations of solar intensity oscillations over a range of wavelengths; (2) observations of the photometric output of the sun; this will lead to a better model of the temperature distribution on the solar surface. These topics are highly relevant to chromospheric structure and dynamics and hence solar terrestrial research. Part of the motivation in funding this research program is the exciting opportunity provided by new powerful facilities to explore an area previously inaccessible because of technical limitations. But more than this, submillimeter observations offer the unique diagnostic advantage that the spectral line formation is simple and well understood. The program is of fundamental importance for clarifying the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. A broader purpose is to open the submillimeter telescopes at Mauna Kea to the unlimited possibilities of submillimeter and millimeter solar research.//
