Spatio-temporal patterns in solar surface convection
Abstract
The solar plasma, under the control of convective motions, concentrates or diffuses the magnetic field emergent on the solar surface. The convection and magnetism, closely interacting, govern the activity we observe on the Sun. Commonly, on the solar surface, three different convective scales are indicated: the granulation, with a typical length of about 1-2 Mm, the mesogranulation, that ranges from 3 Mm to 10 Mm, and the supergranulation, with typical length scales of 20-30 Mm. Recently, the physical framework of convection has been challenged and the processes at the base of the formation and evolution of solar features have been remarkably re-examined. In fact, even though in various measure, for all three scales a "classical" convective origin seems not sufficient to hold account of the complex observational and theoretical scenery. The recent progresses in observational techniques, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations produce a more complex scheme where hydrodynamic instabilities, hard-turbulence regimes, cooperative evolution, play a dominant role in the description of onset and evolution of observed spatio-temporal patterns in the Sun.\ After a brief review of the physics involved in the convection onset in the solar interior, some recent conclusions related to the three different convective scales are discussed.
- Publication:
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Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana
- Pub Date:
- 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003MmSAI..74..576B
- Keywords:
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- Sun: solar convection;
- Sun: photosphere