Characteristics of solar meridional flows |
Auteur | Basu Sarbani |
Institution | Yale University |
Theme | Convection, dynamo and flows |
| Auteur(s) supplémentaire(s) | H. M. Antia |
| Institution(s) supplémentaire(s) | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India |
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Abstract | We have used ring diagram analysis of MDI full-disc data to determine the properties of solar meridional flow in the outer 2% of the Sun over solar cycle 23. The meridional flows show a migrating pattern with higher-velocity flows migrating towards the equator as activity increases. Additionally, we find that the migrating pattern of the meridional flow matches those of sunspot butterfly diagram and the zonal flows in the shallow layers. A Legendre polynomial decomposition of the meridional flows shows that the latitudinal pattern of the flow was also different during the maximum as compared to that during the two minima. We also find that the dominant component of meridional flows during solar maximum was much lower than that during the minima at the beginning of cycles 23 and 24. |
