Intensity contrast of the average supergranule

TL;DR

This study measures the intensity contrast of solar supergranulation using SDO/HMI data, revealing temperature perturbations, anisotropies, and temporal asymmetries that suggest wave-like behavior of supergranulation.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed characterization of intensity contrast and its anisotropies at supergranulation scales, linking them to flow and magnetic field distributions.

Findings

Maximum intensity contrast corresponds to a temperature perturbation of about 1.1 K.

An east-west anisotropy in intensity contrast is observed.

Temporal evolution shows asymmetry, with larger intensity excess before maximum outflow.

Abstract

While the velocity fluctuations of supergranulation dominate the spectrum of solar convection at the solar surface, very little is known about the fluctuations in other physical quantities like temperature or density at supergranulation scale. Using SDO/HMI observations, we characterize the intensity contrast of solar supergranulation at the solar surface. We identify the positions of ${\sim}10^4$ outflow and inflow regions at supergranulation scales, from which we construct average flow maps and co-aligned intensity and magnetic field maps. In the average outflow center, the maximum intensity contrast is $(7.8\pm0.6)\times10^{-4}$ (there is no corresponding feature in the line-of-sight magnetic field). This corresponds to a temperature perturbation of about $1.1\pm0.1$ K, in agreement with previous studies. We discover an east-west anisotropy, with a slightly deeper intensity minimum east of the outflow center. The evolution is asymmetric in time: the intensity excess is larger 8 hours before the reference time (the time of maximum outflow), while it has almost disappeared 8 hours after the reference time. In the average inflow region, the intensity contrast mostly follows the magnetic field distribution, except for an east-west anisotropic component that dominates 8 hours before the reference time. We suggest that the east-west anisotropy in the intensity is related to the wave-like properties of supergranulation.