Rapid Formation and Disappearance of a Filament Barb

We present observations of an activated quiescent filament obtained in Hα from the high-resolution Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) on 20 August 2010. The filament developed a barb in 10 min, which disappeared within the next 35 min. A data set from the DOT spanning 2 h was used to analyse this event. Line-of-sight velocity maps were constructed from the Doppler images, which reveal flows in filament spine during this period. Photospheric magnetograms were used from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to determine the changes in magnetic flux in the region surrounding the barb location. The analysis shows flows in the filament spine towards the barb location preceding its formation, and flows in the barb towards the spine during its disappearance. Magnetograms reveal patches of minority polarity flux close to the end of the barb at its greatest elongation. The flows in the spine and barbs are along numerous threads that compose these typical filament structures. The flows are consistent with field-aligned threads and demonstrate that the replacement time of the mass in barbs, and by inference, in the spine is very rapid.