Local Helioseismology: Three Dimensional Imaging of the Solar Interior

TL;DR

This paper reviews how local helioseismology uses solar oscillation data to create three-dimensional images of the Sun's interior, revealing flows, magnetic activity, and dynamic processes.

Contribution

It summarizes recent advances in local helioseismology techniques and discoveries of subsurface flows, magnetic signatures, and internal dynamics of the Sun.

Findings

Detection of subsurface horizontal flows around sunspots

Observation of the poleward meridional flow at 15 m/s

Identification of magnetic activity on the Sun's far side

Abstract

The Sun supports a rich spectrum of internal waves that are continuously excited by turbulent convection. The GONG network and the MDI/SOHO space instrument provide an exceptional data base of spatially-resolved observations of solar oscillations, covering an entire sunspot cycle (11 years). Local helioseismology is a set of tools for probing the solar interior in three dimensions using measurements of wave travel times and local mode frequencies. Local helioseismology has discovered (i) near-surface vector flows associated with convection (ii) 250 m/s subsurface horizontal outflows around sunspots (iii) ~50 m/s extended horizontal flows around active regions (converging near the surface and diverging below), (iv) the effect of the Coriolis force on convective flows and active region flows (v) the subsurface signature of the 15 m/s poleward meridional flow, (vi) a +/-5 m/s time-varying depth-dependent component of the meridional circulation around the mean latitude of activity, and (vii) magnetic activity on the far side of the Sun.