The Advection of Supergranules by the Sun's Axisymmetric Flows

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that supergranule motions on the Sun can be explained by advection through axisymmetric flows, with simulated data matching observed Doppler images and revealing insights into solar surface flows.

Contribution

The paper introduces a model where supergranules are advected by axisymmetric flows, successfully reproducing observed solar surface flow characteristics without invoking wave-like behavior.

Findings

Simulated data match observed Doppler images in spatial and temporal features.

Supergranule advection explains rotation characteristics previously attributed to waves.

Measured meridional flow accurately reflects actual poleward surface flow.

Abstract

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 the projection effects. We find that the measured meridional flow does accurately represent the actual flow and that the observations indicate poleward flow to $65\degr-70\degr$ latitude with equatorward counter cells in the polar regions.