Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Wave-like properties of solar supergranulation

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 13 February 2003

Abstract

Supergranulation1,2 on the surface of the Sun is a pattern of horizontal outflows, outlined by a network of small magnetic features, with a distinct scale of 30 million metres and an apparent lifetime of one day. It is generally believed that supergranulation corresponds to a preferred ‘cellular’ scale of thermal convection; rising magnetic fields are dragged by the outflows and concentrated into ‘ropes’ at the ‘cell’ boundaries3. But as the convection zone is highly turbulent and stratified, numerical modelling has proved to be difficult and the dynamics remain poorly understood. Moreover, there is as yet no explanation for the observation that the pattern appears4,5 to rotate faster around the Sun than the magnetic features. Here we report observations showing that supergranulation undergoes oscillations and supports waves with periods of 6–9 days. The waves are predominantly prograde, which explains the apparent super-rotation of the pattern. The rotation of the plasma through which the pattern propagates is consistent with the motion of the magnetic network.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Power spectrum of the supergranulation signal near the solar equator (λ = 0°). Sections are shown at constant wavenumber k = 120/R, where R is the solar radius.
Figure 2: Flows, u, inferred from the advection of the supergranulation, plotted against latitude, λ.
Figure 3: Average dynamical properties in a co-moving frame.
Figure 4: Wave power as a function of azimuth and latitude.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Leighton, R. B., Noyes, R. W. & Simon, G. W. Velocity fields in the solar atmosphere. I. Preliminary report. Astrophys. J. 135, 474–499 (1962)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Simon, G. W. & Leighton, R. B. Velocity fields in the solar atmosphere. III. Large-scale motions, the chromospheric network, and magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. 140, 1120–1147 (1964)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Galloway, D. J. & Weiss, N. O. Convection and magnetic fields in stars. Astrophys. J. 243, 945–953 (1981)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Duvall, T. L. Jr The equatorial rotation rate of the supergranulation cells. Sol. Phys. 66, 213–221 (1980)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Snodgrass, H. B. & Ulrich, R. K. Rotation of Doppler features in the solar photosphere. Astrophys. J. 351, 309–316 (1990)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Scherrer, P. H. et al. The solar oscillations investigation—Michelson Doppler imager. Sol. Phys. 162, 129–188 (1995)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Duvall, T. L. Jr et al. Time-distance helioseismology. Nature 362, 430–432 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Duvall, T. L. Jr & Gizon, L. Time-distance helioseismology with f modes as a method for measurement of near-surface flows. Sol. Phys. 192, 177–191 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schou, J. & Bogart, R. S. Flow and horizontal displacements from ring diagrams. Astrophys. J. 504, L131–L134 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Komm, R. W., Howard, R. F. & Harvey, J. W. Rotation rates of small magnetic features from two- and one-dimensional cross-correlation analyses. Sol. Phys. 145, 1–10 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Komm, R. W., Howard, R. F. & Harvey, J. W. Meridional flow of small photospheric magnetic features. Sol. Phys. 147, 207–223 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Beck, J. G. Large Scale Solar Velocities on Time Scales up to Thirty Days. Thesis, Univ. California (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Beck, J. G. & Schou, J. Supergranulation rotation. Sol. Phys. 193, 333–343 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Brummell, N. H., Hurlburt, N. E. & Toomre, J. Turbulent compressible convection with rotation. I. Flow structure and evolution. Astrophys. J. 473, 494–513 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Miesch, M. S. et al. Three-dimensional spherical simulations of solar convection. I. Differential rotation and pattern evolution achieved with laminar and turbulent states. Astrophys. J. 532, 593–615 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hurlburt, N. E., Matthews, P. C. & Proctor, M. R. E. Nonlinear compressible convection in oblique magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. 457, 933–938 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhong, F., Ecke, R. & Steinberg, V. Asymmetric modes and the transition to vortex structures in rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection. Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 2473–2476 (1991)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Walden, R. W. et al. Traveling waves and chaos in convection in binary fluid mixtures. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 496–499 (1985)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank D. O. Gough for suggestions about the general presentation of this Letter, and P. Milford, P. H. Scherrer, C. J. Schrijver and N. O. Weiss for comments. SOHO is a mission of international cooperation between the European Space Agency and NASA. MDI is supported by the Office of Space Sciences of NASA.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    L. Gizon & J. Schou

  2. Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA

    T. L. Duvall Jr

Authors
  1. L. Gizon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. L. Duvall Jr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Schou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Gizon.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gizon, L., Duvall, T. & Schou, J. Wave-like properties of solar supergranulation. Nature 421, 43–44 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01287

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01287

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation