Peter E. Williams

THE ADVECTION OF SUPERGRANULES BY THE SUN'S AXISYMMETRIC FLOWS

We show that the motions of supergranules are consistent with a model in which they are simply advected by the axisymmetric flows in the Sun’s surface shear layer. We produce a 10 day series of simulated Doppler images at a 15 minute cadence that reproduces most spatial and temporal characteristics seen in the SOHO/MDI Doppler data. Our simulated data have a spectrum of cellular flows with just two components—a granule component that peaks at spherical wavenumbers of about 4000 and a supergranule component that peaks at wavenumbers of about 110. We include the advection of these cellular components by the axisymmetric flows—differential rotation and meridional flow—whose variations with latitude and depth (wavenumber) are consistent with observations. We mimic the evolution of the cellular pattern by introducing random variations to the phases of the spectral components at rates that reproduce the levels of cross-correlation as functions of time and latitude. Our simulated data do not include any wave-like characteristics for the supergranules yet can reproduce the rotation characteristics previously attributed to wave-like behavior. We find rotation rates which appear faster than the actual rotation rates and attribute this to projection effects. We find that the measured meridional flow does accurately represent the actual flow and that the observations indicate poleward flow to 65 ◦ –70 ◦ latitude with equatorward countercells in the polar regions.

Properties of Supergranulation During the Solar Minima of Cycles 22/23 and 23/24

The solar minimum at the transition from cycle 23 to 24 was notable for its low level of activity and its extended duration. Among the various fields of study, the evolution of the solar convection zone may provide insight into the causes and consequences of this recent minimum. This study continues previous investigations of the characteristics of solar supergranulation, a convection component strongly linked to the structure of the magnetic field, namely the time-evolution of the global mean of supergranule cell size, determined from spectral analysis of MDI Dopplergrams from the two previous solar minima. Analyses of the global mean of supergranule sizes show a quasi-oscillatory nature to the evolution of this particular supergranule characteristic. Performing similar analyses on realistic, synthetic Doppler images show similar time-dependent characteristics. We conclude that the observed fluctuations are not observational artifacts, and that an underlying trend exists within the evolution of the supergranulation network.