185 research outputs found
Flow Field Evolution of a Decaying Sunspot
We study the evolution of the flows and horizontal proper motions in and
around a decaying follower sunspot based on time sequences of two-dimensional
spectroscopic observations in the visible and white light imaging data obtained
over six days from June~7 to~12, 2005. During this time period the sunspot
decayed gradually to a pore. The spectroscopic observations were obtained with
the Fabry-P\'{e}rot based Visible-Light Imaging Magnetograph (VIM) in
conjunction with the high-order adaptive optics (AO) system operated at the 65
cm vacuum reflector of the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). We apply local
correlation tracking (LCT) to the speckle reconstructed time sequences of
white-light images around 600 nm to infer horizontal proper motions while the
Doppler shifts of the scanned \FeI line at 630.15 nm are used to calculate
line-of-sight (LOS) velocities with sub-arcsecond resolution. We find that the
dividing line between radial inward and outward proper motions in the inner and
outer penumbra, respectively, survives the decay phase. In particular the moat
flow is still detectable after the penumbra disappeared. Based on our
observations three major processes removed flux from the sunspot: (a)
fragmentation of the umbra, (b) flux cancelation of moving magnetic features
(MMFs; of the same polarity as the sunspot) that encounter the leading opposite
polarity network and plages areas, and (c) flux transport by MMFs (of the same
polarity as the sunspot) to the surrounding network and plage regions that have
the same polarity as the sunspot.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, The Astrophysical Journal, accepted September,
200
Spatial distribution and statistical properties of small-scale convective vortex-like motions in a quiet Sun region
High-resolution observations of a quiet Sun internetwork region taken with
the Solar 1-m Swedish Telescope in La Palma are analyzed. We determine the
location of small-scale vortex motions in the solar photospheric region by
computing the horizontal proper motions of small-scale structures on time
series of images. These plasma convectively-driven swirl motions are associated
to: (1) downdrafts (that have been commonly explained as corresponding to sites
where the plasma is cooled down and hence returned to the interior below the
visible photospheric level), and (2) horizontal velocity vectors converging
into a central point. The sink cores are proved to be the final destination of
passive floats tracing plasma flows towards the center of each vortex. We
establish the occurrence of these events to be 1.4 x 10^(-3) and 1.6 x 10^(-3)
vortices Mm^(-2) min^(-1) respectively for two time series analyzed here.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
Prevalence of coronary artery disease risk factors among male fire-fighters in Cape Town, South Africa
Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity
and on-duty mortality among fire-fighters. This study investigated
the prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors among
firefighters in Cape Town, South Africa.A quantitative, cross-sectional and correlational study
design was used. A convenient sample of 219 male fire-fighters with
mean age 37.85±9.80 years was recruited. Eight major CAD risk factors
were assessed using standard techniques. SPSS (ver. 23) was used with
the Pearson correlation and Kruskall-Wallis H test with the MannWhitney test post hoc and a Bonferroni correction. The significance level
set at p<0.05
Do quasi-regular structures really exist in the solar photosphere? I. Observational evidence
Two series of solar-granulation images -- the La Palma series of 5 June 1993
and the SOHO MDI series of 17--18 January 1997 -- are analysed both
qualitatively and quantitatively. New evidence is presented for the existence
of long-lived, quasi-regular structures (first reported by Getling and Brandt
(2002)), which no longer appear unusual in images averaged over 1--2-h time
intervals. Such structures appear as families of light and dark concentric
rings or families of light and dark parallel strips (``ridges'' and
``trenches'' in the brightness distributions). In some cases, rings are
combined with radial ``spokes'' and can thus form ``web'' patterns. The
characteristic width of a ridge or trench is somewhat larger than the typical
size of granules. Running-average movies constructed from the series of images
are used to seek such structures. An algorithm is developed to obtain, for
automatically selected centres, the radial distributions of the azimuthally
averaged intensity, which highlight the concentric-ring patterns. We also
present a time-averaged granulation image processed with a software package
intended for the detection of geological structures in aerospace images. A
technique of running-average-based correlations between the brightness
variations at various points of the granular field is developed and indications
are found for a dynamical link between the emergence and sinking of hot and
cool parcels of the solar plasma. In particular, such a correlation analysis
confirms our suggestion that granules -- overheated blobs -- may repeatedly
emerge on the solar surface. Based on our study, the critical remarks by Rast
(2002) on the original paper by Getling and Brandt (2002) can be dismissed.Comment: 21 page, 8 figures; accepted by "Solar Physics
Characterization of horizontal flows around solar pores from high-resolution time series of images
Though there is increasing evidence linking the moat flow and the Evershed
flow along the penumbral filaments, there is not a clear consensus regarding
the existence of a moat flow around umbral cores and pores, and the debate is
still open. Solar pores appear to be a suitable scenario to test the
moat-penumbra relation as evidencing the direct interaction between the umbra
and the convective plasma in the surrounding photosphere, without any
intermediate structure in between. The present work studies solar pores based
on high resolution ground-based and satellite observations. Local correlation
tracking techniques have been applied to different-duration time series to
analyze the horizontal flows around several solar pores. Our results establish
that the flows calculated from different solar pore observations are coherent
among each other and show the determinant and overall influence of exploding
events in the granulation around the pores. We do not find any sign of
moat-like flows surrounding solar pores but a clearly defined region of inflows
surrounding them. The connection between moat flows and flows associated to
penumbral filaments is hereby reinforced by this work.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics
Brightness, distribution, and evolution of sunspot umbral dots
We present a 106-minute TiO (705.7nm) time series of high spatial and
temporal resolution that contains thousands of umbral dots (UDs) in a mature
sunspot in the active region NOAA 10667 at =0.95. The data were acquired
with the 1-m Swedish Solar Telescope on La Palma. With the help of a multilevel
tracking (MLT) algorithm the sizes, brightnesses, and trajectories of 12836
umbral dots were found and analyzed. The MLT allows UDs with very low contrast
to be reliably identified. Inside the umbra we determine a UD filling factor of
11%. The histogram of UD lifetimes is monotonic, i.e. a UD does not have a
typical lifetime. Three quarters of the UDs lived for less than 150s and showed
no or little motion. The histogram of the UD diameters exhibits a maximum at
225km, i.e. most of the UDs are spatially resolved. UDs display a typical
horizontal velocity of 420m/s and a typical peak intensity of 51% of the mean
intensity of the quiet photosphere, making them on average 20% brighter than
the local umbral background. Almost all mobile UDs (large birth-death distance)
were born close to the umbra-penumbra boundary, move towards the umbral center,
and are brighter than average. Notably bright and mobile UDs were also observed
along a prominent UD chain, both ends of which are located at the
umbra-penumbra boundary. Their motion started primarily at either of the ends
of the chain, continued along the chain, and ended near the chain's center. We
observed the splitting and merging of UDs and the temporal succession of both.
For the first time the evolution of brightness, size, and horizontal speed of a
typical UD could be determined in a statistically significant way. Considerable
differences between the evolution of central and peripheral UDs are found,
which point to a difference in origin
Large-scale horizontal flows in the solar photosphere II: Long-term behaviour and magnetic activity response
Recently, we have developed a method useful for mapping large-scale
horizontal velocity fields in the solar photosphere. The method was developed,
tuned and calibrated using the synthetic data. Now, we applied the method to
the series of Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) dopplergrams covering almost one
solar cycle in order to get the information about the long-term behaviour of
surface flows. We have found that our method clearly reproduces the widely
accepted properties of mean flow field components, such as torsional
oscillations and a pattern of meridional circulation. We also performed a
periodic analysis, however due to the data series length and large gaps we did
not detect any significant periods. The relation between the magnetic activity
influencing the mean zonal motion is studied. We found an evidence that the
emergence of compact magnetic regions locally accelerates the rotation of
supergranular pattern in their vicinity and that the presence of magnetic
fields generally decelerates the rotation in the equatorial region. Our results
show that active regions in the equatorial region emerge exhibiting a constant
velocity (faster by 60 +/- 9 m/s than Carrington rate) suggesting that they
emerge from the base of the surface radial shear at 0.95 R_sun, disconnect from
their magnetic roots, and slow down during their evolution.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
On Signatures of Twisted Magnetic Flux Tube Emergence
Recent studies of NOAA active region 10953, by Okamoto {\it et al.} ({\it
Astrophys. J. Lett.} {\bf 673}, 215, 2008; {\it Astrophys. J.} {\bf 697}, 913,
2009), have interpreted photospheric observations of changing widths of the
polarities and reversal of the horizontal magnetic field component as
signatures of the emergence of a twisted flux tube within the active region and
along its internal polarity inversion line (PIL). A filament is observed along
the PIL and the active region is assumed to have an arcade structure. To
investigate this scenario, MacTaggart and Hood ({\it Astrophys. J. Lett.} {\bf
716}, 219, 2010) constructed a dynamic flux emergence model of a twisted
cylinder emerging into an overlying arcade. The photospheric signatures
observed by Okamoto {\it et al.} (2008, 2009) are present in the model although
their underlying physical mechanisms differ. The model also produces two
additional signatures that can be verified by the observations. The first is an
increase in the unsigned magnetic flux in the photosphere at either side of the
PIL. The second is the behaviour of characteristic photospheric flow profiles
associated with twisted flux tube emergence. We look for these two signatures
in AR 10953 and find negative results for the emergence of a twisted flux tube
along the PIL. Instead, we interpret the photospheric behaviour along the PIL
to be indicative of photospheric magnetic cancellation driven by flows from the
dominant sunspot. Although we argue against flux emergence within this
particular region, the work demonstrates the important relationship between
theory and observations for the successful discovery and interpretation of
signatures of flux emergence.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic
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