The relationship between flux emergence and subsurface toroidal magnetic flux

TL;DR

This study models the relationship between surface magnetic field observations and subsurface toroidal flux using a 1-D mean-field equation, providing calibration curves for different flux emergence regimes.

Contribution

It introduces a method to relate observed surface magnetic fields and sunspot areas to subsurface toroidal flux through calibration curves for different emergence regimes.

Findings

Calibration curves for ephemeral and active region emergence regimes.

Relationship established between surface magnetic proxies and subsurface flux.

Discussion on size and velocity differences in flux emergence.

Abstract

The 1-D mean-field equation describing the evolution of the subsurface toroidal field can be used together with the observed surface radial field to model the subsurface toroidal flux density. We aim to test this model and determine the relationship between the observationally inferred surface toroidal field (as a proxy for flux emergence), and the modelled subsurface toroidal flux density. We use a combination of sunspot area observations, the surface toroidal field inferred from WSO line-of-sight magnetic field observations, and compare with the results of a 1-D mean-field evolution equation for the subsurface toroidal field, driven by the observed radial field from the National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak and SOLIS observations. We derive calibration curves relating the subsurface toroidal flux density to the observed surface toroidal field strengths and sunspot areas. The calibration curves are for two regimes, one corresponding to ephemeral region emergence outside of the butterfly wings, the other to active region emergence in the butterfly wings. We discuss this in terms of the size and vertical velocity associated with the two types of flux emergence.