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Large-scaleflowsinferredfromhelioseismologyrelatedtothesolarcycle
FrankHillNationalSolarObservatory
Boulder,CO
Helioseismology101- 1
• Thesunisanalogoustoahugemusicalinstrument– itringslikeabell• Acousticwavesaregeneratedbyconvectionatall
temporalfrequencies• Soundistrappedinsidethesunbytheinwardly
increasingtemperature– asonicmirage• Thedepthtowhichanacousticwavepenetrates
dependsonitspath• Onlymodesthathavenodesatthetwoturning
pointssurvivedestructiveinterference
Helioseismology101- 2
• About5,000,000modessurvivethedestructiveinterferenceinthetemperaturegradient• Sincetherearethuslotsofraypathspropagatingto
differentdepths,wecanusethemtoinferthephysicalconditionsbelowthephotosphereviainversions• Canusegloballyresonantmodesforglobally
averagedstudies,describedbysphericalharmonics• Alsousewavesthatarenotgloballyresonantfor
localizedstudies,i.e.inactiveregions.
WavesinaSphere:SphericalHarmonics
n – radialorder:0£ n £ 80
! – sphericalharmonicdegree:0£ ! £ 4000
m – azimuthaldegree:-! £m £ !
Fluxtransportdynamo
Twolarge-scaleflowsofimportance:differentialrotationandmeridionalflow
Internalrotation
• Rotationtransformsmagneticfieldfrompoloidal(N-S)totoroidal(E-W)• Earlydynamotheoriesassumedinternalsolar
rotationwas“constantoncylinders”• Iso-rotationcontoursparalleltorotationaxis• Taylor-Proudman theoremwassatisfied
• Helioseismologyshowedotherwise
Internalrotation
Intrigue!
• Differentialrotation(DR)persiststhroughtheCZ• Nearthebaseoftheconvectionzone,DR
transitionstosolid-bodyrotation(SBR)intheradiativezone(thetachocline)• TheDRataround50° latitudeisequaltotheSBR–
thisisalsothelatitudewheresunspotsfirstappearinthecycle• Dynamosrequirevelocityshear,andthereisalsoa
shearlayerimmediatelybelowthephotosphere,sotwodynamos?
Meridionalflow
• Afteractiveregionsemerge,reconnect,anddecay,asurfacepolewardmeridionalflow(MF)advects thefieldtothepoles• Presumably,theMFconvergesandsubmergesat
thepoles,takingthemagneticfieldwithit(notyetobserved)• Alsopresumably,asubsurfacereturn
equatorwardflowtransportsthemagneticfieldbacktowardslowerlatitudesandcompletesthetransitionfromtoroidaltopoloidalfield• Dynamomodelsassumeuni-cellularMFinthe
twohemispheresandindepth
Thesurfacemagneticfieldoverfoursolarcycles
MeridionalflowfromringdiagramsandGONGdata
Thespeedofthemeridionalflowchangesoverthecycleandiscorrelatedwiththestrengthofthenextcycle
FlowDivergence Blue:source/upflowYellow:sink/downflow
Highactivity:inflowsanddownflowsinactivelatitudes
Lowactivity– patternmuchweakerbutstillpresent
Threecellsinlatitudeineachhemisphere
Deepmeridionalflowestimates
Complexflow,maybemultiplecellsindepth,returnflowsurprisinglyshallow(80Mm)
BUTstilllittleagreementbetweenmethods,questionsofenergyandmassconservation
Torsionaloscillation
• Appearsasaveryweak“jetstream”zonalflowwithamplitude~5m/sabovebackgroundDR• Seenonthesurfaceanddownthroughatleast70Mm
depth• Movesinlatitudeduringthecycle• Twobranches:polewardandequatorward– total
lengthoftimeforaflowcycleis~22years• Solaractivityappearsonequatorwardsideofflow• EvolutionofflowtowardlowerlatitudesinC24was
correlatedwithlengthofcycleandextendedminimum• DoesthemagneticfieldcausetheTO,ordoestheTO
influencetheactivityevolution?
Surface“TorsionalOscillation”
1980 1990 2000
Therearenoobservationsofthesurfaceflowpast2009
TorsionaloscillationatR8=0.99
WhereisCycle25?
• Polewardflowshouldhaveappearedin2009• Equatorwardflowshouldhaveappearedin2015• WTF?• Onepossibility:backgrounddifferentialrotation
changedwithtime
Conclusions
• Helioseismologyhasrevealedthattheflowsdrivingthesolarcyclearemorecomplexthanassumedbydynamotheory• Newdynamomodelsarebeingconstructed
incorporatingthehelioseismicflows• Thetorsionaloscillationforthenextcycle(25)isvery
differentfrompredecessors– didtheSun’srotationprofilechangeoristhereagrandminimumcoming?• Butweonlyhavefourcyclesofobservationssofar(less
thantwowithhelioseismology)• Staytuned!