Time-Series Analysis of Supergranule Characteristics at Solar Minimum

• Published in: Solar physics 2014-04, Vol.289 (4), p.1101-1113
• Main Authors: Williams, Peter E., Pesnell, W. Dean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Atmospheric Sciences; Fluctuations; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Simulation; Solar energy; Solar physics; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Time series
• ISSN: 0038-0938; 1573-093X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11207-013-0383-8

Sixty days of Doppler images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) / Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) investigation during the 1996 and 2008 solar minima have been analyzed to show that certain supergranule characteristics (size, size range, and horizontal velocity) exhibit fluctuations of three to five days. Cross-correlating parameters showed a good, positive correlation between supergranulation size and size range, and a moderate, negative correlation between size range and velocity. The size and velocity do exhibit a moderate, negative correlation, but with a small time lag (less than 12 hours). Supergranule sizes during five days of co-temporal data from MDI and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) / Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) exhibit similar fluctuations with a high level of correlation between them. This verifies the solar origin of the fluctuations, which cannot be caused by instrumental artifacts according to these observations. Similar fluctuations are also observed in data simulations that model the evolution of the MDI Doppler pattern over a 60-day period. Correlations between the supergranule size and size range time-series derived from the simulated data are similar to those seen in MDI data. A simple toy-model using cumulative, uncorrelated exponential growth and decay patterns at random emergence times produces a time-series similar to the data simulations. The qualitative similarities between the simulated and the observed time-series suggest that the fluctuations arise from stochastic processes occurring within the solar convection zone. This behavior, propagating to surface manifestations of supergranulation, may assist our understanding of magnetic-field-line advection, evolution, and interaction.