Probing Subsurface Flows in Active Region NOAA 12192 - Comparison with NOAA 10486

TL;DR

This study compares subsurface plasma flows in active regions NOAA 12192 and NOAA 10486, revealing distinct flow patterns and their relation to flare activity and CME productivity using helioseismology techniques.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of subsurface flows in these two large, flare-productive active regions during solar cycle 24.

Findings

AR 12192 had large horizontal flow amplitudes with poleward meridional flow.

AR 10486 showed equatorward meridional flow and persistent flow twists.

Flow energy changes correlated with flare activity and magnetic reorganization.

Abstract

Active Region (AR) 12192 is the biggest AR observed in solar cycle 24 so far. This was a long-lived AR which survived for four Carrington rotations (CR) and exhibited several unusual phenomena. We measure the horizontal subsurface flows in this active region in multiple rotation using the ring-diagram technique of local helioseismology and the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG+) Dopplergrams, and investigate how different was the plasma flow in AR 12192 from that in AR 10486. Both regions produced several high M- and X-class flares but had different CME productivity. Our analysis suggests that these ARs had unusually large horizontal flow amplitude with distinctly different directions. While meridional flow in AR 12192 was poleward that supports the flux transport to poles, it was equatorward in AR 10486. Furthermore, there was a sudden increase in the magnitude of estimated zonal flow in shallow layers in AR 12192 during the X3.1 flare, however, it reversed direction in AR 10486 with X17.2 flare. These flow patterns produced strong twists in horizontal velocity with depth in AR 10486 that persisted throughout the disk passage as opposed to AR 12192, which produced a twist only after the eruption of the X3.1 flare that disappeared soon after. Our study indicates that the sunspot rotation combined with the re-organization of magnetic field in AR 10486 was not sufficient to decrease the flow energy even after several large flares that might have triggered CMEs. Furthermore, in the absence of sunspot rotation in AR 12192, this re-organization of magnetic field contributed significantly to the substantial release of flow energy after the X3.1 flare.