# Comparison of time-distance inversion methods applied to SDO/HMI Dopplergrams

## TL;DR

This study compares two time-distance inversion methods for helioseismic data from SDO/HMI, highlighting biases and improvements in flow and sound-speed perturbation measurements through an independent pipeline with reduced crosstalk.

## Contribution

The paper introduces an independent inversion pipeline that simultaneously inverts for multiple quantities, reducing crosstalk and addressing biases in existing JSOC data products.

## Key findings

- Reproduced JSOC horizontal flow results successfully.
- Sound-speed perturbations are affected by high crosstalk in JSOC data.
- Different localisations of the target function influence inversion results.

## Abstract

We compared the results from the JSOC pipeline for horizontal flow components and the perturbations of the speed of sound at set of depths with equivalent results from an independently implemented pipeline using a different time-distance inversion scheme. Our inversion pipeline allows inversion for all quantities at once while allowing minimisation of the crosstalk between them. This gives us an opportunity to discuss the possible biases present in the JSOC data products. For the tests we used the subtractive optimally localised averaging (SOLA) method with a minimisation of the cross-talk. We compared three test inversions for each quantity at each target depth. At first, we used the JSOC setup to reproduce the JSOC results. Subsequently, we used the extended pipeline to improve these results by incorporating more independent travel-time measurements but keeping the JSOC-indicated localisation in the Sun. Finally, we inverted for flow components and sound-speed perturbations using a localisation kernel with properties advertised in the JSOC metadata. We successfully reproduced the horizontal flow components. The sound-speed perturbations are strongly affected by the high level of the cross-talk in JSOC products. This leads to larger amplitudes in the inversions for the sound-speed perturbations. Different results were obtained when a target function localised around the target depth was used. This is a consequence of non-localised JSOC averaging kernels. We add that our methodology also allows inversion for the vertical flow.