(click on images for a larger more interesting version)
The images below show an interesting interconnecting loop system, pointed out by J. Gurman, in both SOHO EIT 195 A and SXT AlMg images. These loops interconnect two active regions in the S, of which one is currently extremely active indeed.
The EIT image (in FeXII; upper panel), beautifully shows almost linear features linking AR 8179 with 8175 (at S40, an extremely high-latitude region; see the earlier comment about the even higher-latitude region currently in the north. The color table has been adjusted slightly from the normal EIT choice to show the interconnections a little better. The SXT image (AlMg; lower panel) shows similar but not identical structures - these are at higher temperature. The image is half a day later, so there may have been some evolution.
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We often ask "how does the large-scale corona react to the colossal energy release of a major flare?" - here we may have a partial answer. The structure has not changed in a global sense, since the connecting loops are still there after the flare. But... they are DIFFERENT loops! This is surprising, given the short time scale of the comparison (43 minutes), since the loops could probably not cool radiatively from such a large spatial scale in that time. Instead, this suggests that the current system connecting the active regions has changed in some subtle manner, involving both physical motions and presumably the heating process. The "best" global helicity of an active region noted by Pevtsov et al., found by Canfield et al. (Proc. Yohkoh conference at Bath, 1996) to be related to active-region interconnections, may indeed be involved with the energy stored magnetically and available for flares.
But.... beware of DISSENTING OPINIONS!