Large-scale flows in the Sun: Characteristics and time variations

Abstract

AbstractThe study of solar rotation has a 150-year history. Early studies were restricted to looking at the movement of sunspots; much later came studies using other tracers such as supergranules, and spectroscopic measurements using Doppler shifts of spectral lines. These studies also found evidence of other large-scale flows, such as the meridional flows in the north-south direction and the zonal flows, or torsional oscillations, parallel to the equator. However, until the 1980s, the study of solar rotation and large-scale flows was restricted to what could be observed on the solar surface. The advent of good helioseismic data changed that and gave us the means to study flows in the solar interior. Instruments like GONG, MDI and HMI have now collected helioseismic data for two solar cycles and these also allow us to study the large scale flows and their variations with time and solar activity. We review what the long data sets tell us about the these flows and discuss some of the differences between solar cycles 23 and 24.