Supergranule Superrotation Identified as a Projection Effect

Abstract

Previous measurements of the rotation rate of the supergranule Doppler velocity pattern revealed surprising characteristics: (1) the pattern rotates faster than the plasma at the surface, and, at each latitude, it rotates faster than the plasma at any level below the surface (superrotation), (2) larger cells rotate more rapidly than smaller cells, and (3) faster rotation rates are found when using cross-correlation techniques with larger time lags between Doppler images. We simulate the supergranulation velocity pattern using a spectrum for the cellular flows that matches the observed spectrum, but we keep the pattern unchanged and rotating rigidly. Our simulation shows that the superrotation and its dependence on cell size can be largely reproduced by projection effects on the line-of-sight Doppler velocity signal. The remaining variation in rotation rate with cell size can be attributed to cells smaller than supergranules extending through shallower layers that have slower rotation rates.