We present and discuss results from time-distance helioseismic measurements of meridional circulation in the solar convection zone using 4 years of Doppler velocity observations by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) onboard the Solar Dynamics
Observatory (SDO). Using an in-built mass conservation constraint in terms of the stream function we invert helioseismic travel times to infer meridional circulation in the solar convection zone. We find that the return flow that closes the meridional circulation is possibly beneath the depth of $0.77 R_{odot}$. We discuss the significance of this result in relation to other helioseismic inferences published recently and possible reasons for the differences in the results. Our results show clearly the pitfalls involved in the measurements of material flows in the deep solar interior given the current limits on signal-to-noise and our limited understanding of systematics in the data. We also discuss the implications of our results for the dynamics of solar interior and popular solar dynamo models.
In the quiet solar photosphere, the mixed polarity fields form a magnetic carpet, which continuously evolves due to dynamical interaction between the convective motions and magnetic field. This interplay is a viable source to heat the solar atmospher
e. In this work, we used the line-of-sight (LOS) magnetograms obtained from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the textit{Solar Dynamics Observatory} (textit{SDO}), and the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) instrument on the textit{Sunrise} balloon-borne observatory, as time dependent lower boundary conditions, to study the evolution of the coronal magnetic field. We use a magneto-frictional relaxation method, including hyperdiffusion, to produce time series of three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear force-free fields from a sequence of photospheric LOS magnetograms. Vertical flows are added up to a height of 0.7 Mm in the modeling to simulate the non-force-freeness at the photosphere-chromosphere layers. Among the derived quantities, we study the spatial and temporal variations of the energy dissipation rate, and energy flux. Our results show that the energy deposited in the solar atmosphere is concentrated within 2 Mm of the photosphere and there is not sufficient energy flux at the base of the corona to cover radiative and conductive losses. Possible reasons and implications are discussed. Better observational constraints of the magnetic field in the chromosphere are crucial to understand the role of the magnetic carpet in coronal heating.
The purpose of deep-focusing time--distance helioseismology is to construct seismic measurements that have a high sensitivity to the physical conditions at a desired target point in the solar interior. With this technique, pairs of points on the sola
r surface are chosen such that acoustic ray paths intersect at this target (focus) point. Considering acoustic waves in a homogeneous medium, we compare travel-time and amplitude measurements extracted from the deep-focusing cross-covariance functions. Using a single-scattering approximation, we find that the spatial sensitivity of deep-focusing travel times to sound-speed perturbations is zero at the target location and maximum in a surrounding shell. This is unlike the deep-focusing amplitude measurements, which have maximum sensitivity at the target point. We compare the signal-to-noise ratio for travel-time and amplitude measurements for different types of sound-speed perturbations, under the assumption that noise is solely due to the random excitation of the waves. We find that, for highly localized perturbations in sound speed, the signal-to-noise ratio is higher for amplitude measurements than for travel-time measurements. We conclude that amplitude measurements are a useful complement to travel-time measurements in time--distance helioseismology.
To elucidate the flare trigger mechanism, we have analyzed several flare events which were observed by Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), in our previous study. Because of the limitation of SOT field of view, however, only four events in the Hinod
e data sets have been utilizable. Therefore, increasing the number of events is required for evaluating the flare trigger models. We investigated the applicability of data obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to increase the data sample for a statistical analysis of the flare trigger process. SDO regularly observes the full disk of the sun and all flares although its spatial resolution is lower than that of Hinode. We investigated the M6.6 flare which occurred on 13 February 2011 and compared the analyzed data of SDO with the results of our previous study using Hinode/SOT data. Filter and vector magnetograms obtained by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and filtergrams from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 1600A were employed. From the comparison of small-scale magnetic configurations and chromospheric emission prior to the flare onset, we confirmed that the trigger region is detectable with the SDO data. We also measured the magnetic shear angles of the active region and the azimuth and strength of the flare-trigger field. The results were consistent with our previous study. We concluded that statistical studies of the flare trigger process are feasible with SDO as well as Hinode data. We also investigated the temporal evolution of the magnetic field before the flare onset with SDO.
Waves have long been thought to contribute to the heating of the solar corona and the generation of the solar wind. Recent observations have demonstrated evidence of quasi-periodic longitudinal disturbances and ubiquitous transverse wave propagation
in many different coronal environments. This paper investigates signatures of different types of oscillatory behaviour, both above the solar limb and on-disk, by comparing findings from the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) for the same active region. We study both transverse and longitudinal motion by comparing and contrasting time-distance images of parallel and perpendicular cuts along/across active region fan loops. Comparisons between parallel space-time features in CoMP Doppler velocity and transverse oscillations in AIA images are made, together with space-time analysis of propagating quasi-periodic intensity features seen near the base of loops in AIA. Signatures of transverse motions are observed along the same magnetic structure using CoMP Doppler velocity (Vphase=600-750km/s, P=3-6mins) and in AIA/SDO above the limb (P=3-8mins). Quasi-periodic intensity features (Vphase=100-200km/s, P=6-11mins) also travel along the base of the same structure. On the disk, signatures of both transverse and longitudinal intensity features were observed by AIA; both show similar properties to signatures found along structures anchored in the same active region three days earlier above the limb. Correlated features are recovered by space-time analysis of neighbouring tracks over perpendicular distances of <2.6Mm.
M. Svanda
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(2013)
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"Comparison of solar surface flows inferred from time--distance helioseismology and coherent structure tracking using HMI/SDO observations"
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Michal \\v{S}vanda
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