Related papers: The Sun's Supergranulation
Supergranulation on the surface of the Sun is an organized cellular flow pattern with a characteristic scale of 30 Mm. It is superficially similar to the well understood granulation that operates at the 1.5 Mm natural scale of convection,…
Context: Supergranulation is a pattern of the velocity field at the surface of the Sun, which has been known about for more than fifty years, however, no satisfactory explanation of its origin has been proposed. Aims: New observational…
Surface granulation of the Sun is primarily a consequence of thermal transport in the outer 1 % of the radius. Its typical scale of about 1 - 2 Mm is set by the balance between convection, free-streaming radiation, and the strong density…
Supergranules are convection cells seen at the Sun's surface as a space filling pattern of horizontal flows. While typical supergranules have diameters of about 35 Mm, they exhibit a broad spectrum of sizes from ~10 Mm to ~100 Mm. Here we…
The Sun provides us with the only spatially well-resolved astrophysical example of turbulent thermal convection. While various aspects of solar photospheric turbulence, such as granulation (one-Megameter horizontal scale), are well…
Supergranulation is characterized by horizontally divergent flows with typical length scales of 32 Mm in the solar photosphere. Unlike granulation, the size of which is comparable to both the thickness of the radiative boundary layer and…
We investigate how rotationally-constrained, deep convection might give rise to supergranulation, the largest distinct spatial scale of convection observed in the solar photosphere. While supergranulation is only weakly influenced by…
Recent analysis revealed that supergranules (convection cells seen at the Sun's surface) are advected by the zonal flows at depths equal to the widths of the cells themselves. Here we probe the structure of the meridional circulation by…
Supergranules are believed to be an evidence for large-scale subsurface convection. The vertical component of the supergranular flow field is very hard to measure, but it is considered only a few m/s in and below the photosphere. Here I…
Solar supergranulation presents us with many mysteries. For example, previous studies in spectral space found that supergranulation has wave-like properties. Here we study, in real space, the wave-like evolution of the average supergranule…
Heat is transported through the outermost 30% of the Sun's interior by overturning convective motions. These motions are evident at the Sun's surface in the form of two characteristic cellular structures - granules and supergranules (~1000…
Below the scale of supergranules we find that cellular flows are present in the solar photosphere at two distinct size scales, approximately 2 Mm and 4 Mm, with distinct characteristic times. Simultaneously present in the flow is a…
Context: Studying the motions on the solar surface is fundamental for understanding how turbulent convection transports energy and how magnetic fields are distributed across the solar surface. Aims: From horizontal velocity measurements all…
Supergranulation is a component of solar convection that manifests itself on the photosphere as a cellular network of around 35 Mm across, with a turnover lifetime of 1-2 days. It is strongly linked to the structure of the magnetic field.…
The global scales of solar convection are studied through three-dimensional simulations of compressible convection carried out in spherical shells of rotating fluid which extend from the base of the convection zone to within 15 Mm of the…
Magnetoconvection at the solar surface governs the dynamics in the upper solar atmosphere and sustains the heliosphere. Properties of this fundamental process are poorly described near the solar poles. Here we report the first…
Solar supergranulation remains a mystery in spite of decades of intensive studies. Most of the papers about supergranulation deal with its surface properties. Local helioseismology provides an opportunity to look below the surface and see…
We present the initial results of an observational study into the variation of the dominant length-scale of quiet solar emission: supergranulation. This length-scale reflects the radiative energy in the plasma of the upper solar…
Turbulent convection efficiently transports energy up to the solar photosphere, but its multi-scale nature and dynamic properties are still not fully understood. Several works in the literature have investigated the emergence of patterns of…
We use subsurface-flow velocity maps inferred by time--distance helioseismology from Doppler measurements with the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to investigate variations of large-scale…