  The solar surface is covered by high-speed jets transporting mass and energy
into the solar corona and feeding the solar wind. The most prominent of these
jets have been known as spicules. However, the mechanism initiating these
eruptions events is still unknown. Using realistic numerical simulations we
find that small-scale eruptions are produced by ubiquitous magnetized vortex
tubes generated by the Sun's turbulent convection in subsurface layers. The
swirling vortex tubes (resembling tornadoes) penetrate into the solar
atmosphere, capture and stretch background magnetic field, and push surrounding
material up, generating quasiperiodic shocks. Our simulations reveal a
complicated high-speed flow patterns, and thermodynamic and magnetic structure
in the erupting vortex tubes. We found that the eruptions are initiated in the
subsurface layers and are driven by the high-pressure gradients in the
subphotosphere and photosphere, and by the Lorentz force in the higher
atmosphere layers.
