Category Archives: Helioseismology

223. Helioseismic evidence that the solar dynamo originates near the tachocline

Contributed by Krishnendu Mandal. Posted on February 26, 2026

Helioseismic analysis of solar torsional oscillations reveals dynamo-wave–like signatures that originate near the tachocline and propagate through the convection zone, linking internal zonal flows to the surface magnetic cycle. Additional evidence from frequency-splitting coefficients and rotational shear variations shows strong solar-cycle correlations, supporting the tachocline as a primary site of solar dynamo action.

221. The Tilted Structure of Equatorial Rossby Waves Beneath the Solar Surface

Contributed by Oana Vesa. Posted on February 13, 2026

Equatorial Rossby waves at different depths are studied, and it is found that the Rossby waves are tilted retrograde with depth rather than being a columnar structure. The tilt remains relatively stable through the solar cycle without being consistently modulated by magnetic activity.

214. Characterizing the Observational Properties of the Sun’s High-latitude m=1 Inertial Mode

Contributed by Boyang Ding. Posted on July 25, 2025

High-latitude m=1 inertial modes were analyzed and characterized using the time-distance helioseismic subsurface flows. It was found that the mode’s power exhibits an anti-correlation with solar activity. Magnetic flux transported from low to high latitudes influences both the mode’s power and lifetime, enhancing its power and shortening its lifetime upon arrival.

213. Seismology of Parker-Fragmentation of Magnetic Flux beneath Sunspot Photospheres

Contributed by Charlie Lindsey & Alina Donea. Posted on June 16, 2025

Strong acoustic scatterers are found beneath sunspot umbrae and penumbrae using the phase-correlation holography method. These scatterers indicate the fragmentation of magnetic flux, as suggested by Eugene Parker in the 1970s.

205. Is the solar meridional circulation profile single-, double-, or multiple-cell?

Contributed by Yoshiki Hatta. Posted on October 22, 2024

Is the solar meridional circulation profile single-, double-, or multiple-cell? At least, a constraint of equatorward angular momentum transport by meridional circulation favors the double-cell structure, although the inversion with a constraint of mass conservation favors single cell.

203. Exploring Substructure of the Near-Surface Shear Layer of the Sun

Contributed by Cristina Rabello Soares. Posted on October 4, 2024

The Sun’s near surface shear layer (NSSL) is characterized by using HMI ring-diagram results. It is found the NSSL is composed of three distinct layers: a deeper larger region with a small shear, a narrow middle layer with a strong shear, and a layer very close to the surface.

198. Spectro-Polarimetric Properties of Sunquake Sources and the Origin of Sunquakes

Contributed by A. G. Kosovichev. Posted on February 13, 2024

A spectro-polarimetric analysis of the sunquake sources observed during an X1.5 flare revealed transient emission in the FeI 6173Å line core, indicating intense, impulsive heating in the lower photosphere at the beginning of the flare impulsive phase.

196. Observations of Rossby wave parameter variations during solar cycle 24

Contributed by Mattias Waidele. Posted on September 25, 2023

Equatorial Rossby waves are detected using the HMI’s time-distance subsurface flow fields. It is also found that the power of the Rossby waves show a positive correlation with the sunspot number, while the frequency of the waves shows an anti-correlation with the sunspot number.

189. Spatial Scales and Time Variation of Solar Subsurface Convection

Contributed by Alexander Getling. Posted on October 31, 2022

Spectral analysis of the spatial structure of solar subphotospheric convection is carried out for subsurface flow maps. It is found that the horizontal flow scales increase rapidly with depth, from supergranulation to giant-cell values. The total power of the convective flows is found to be anticorrelated with the sunspot number variation over the solar activity cycle in shallow subsurface layers and positively correlated at larger depths.

188. Constraining Global Solar Models through Helioseismic Analysis

Contributed by Andrey Stejko. Posted on October 28, 2022

Forward modeling is applied to numerous global hydrodynamic solar models, and helioseismic measurements on the meridional circulation are made using the forward modeling results. Comparison against the observational measurements shows significant differences, indicating our insufficient knowledge on either the global hydrodynamic modeling or the helioseismic inversions.