The Sun's Supergranulation
Abstract
The Sun's supergranulation refers to a physical pattern covering the surface of the quiet Sun with a typical horizontal scale of approximately 30,000 km and a lifetime of around 1.8 d. Its most noticeable observable signature is as a fluctuating velocity field of 360 m st-1 rms whose components are mostly horizontal. Supergranulation was discovered more than fifty years ago, however explaining why and how it originates still represents one of the main challenges of modern solar physics.
- Publication:
-
Living Reviews in Solar Physics
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- DOI:
- 10.12942/lrsp-2010-2
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1005.5376
- Bibcode:
- 2010LRSP....7....2R
- Keywords:
-
- convection;
- MHD;
- supergranulation;
- turbulence;
- Solar Surface;
- Dissipation Scale;
- Turbulent Convection;
- Oscillatory Convection;
- Solar Convection Zone;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Major update of 2010 Liv. Rev. Sol. Phys. review. Addresses many new theoretical, numerical and observational developments. All sections, including discussion, revised extensively. Also includes previously unpublished results on nonlinear dynamics of convection in large domains, and lagrangian transport at the solar surface