Structured anomalies in near-surface flows revealed by ring-diagram analysis

Authors: R.S. Bogart (Stanford), C.S. Baldner (Stanford), S. Basu (Yale), R. Howe (Birmingham), M.C. Rabello Soares (Stanford)

Helioseismic analysis by the ring-disgram method can be used to measure localized flow patterns in the near-surface shear layer. Using data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we map both the surface flows and their depth variation with a resolution of 2.5 degrees heliographic, about 12 Mm. Such measurements have been made 72 times per Carrington rotation for the entire mission, May 2010 to the present. They reveal localized anomalies in the zonal flow at high latitudes that support the identification of Rossby waves, They also show both localized anomalies in the vertical shear that can be associated with magnetic active regions, and variations on a hemispheric scale that may be associated with the large-scale magnetic structure, but whose interpretation is not yet well understood.