The Sun’s toroidal field is derived using 45 years of Wilcox Solar Observatory data, 16 years of Michelson Doppler Imager data, and 11 years of Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager data. The duration of each cycle in both hemispheres is also estimated.
Quasi-biennial oscillations are found in the Sun’s interior rotation-rate residuals. They appear differently at different depths and latitudes, and evolve with time.
In order to make the properties of magnetic features observed by SDO/HMI more accessible, the Solar Photospheric Ephemeral and Active Region (SPEAR) catalogue has been created as an easy-to-read tabulated text file. Tilt angles from the SPEAR catalogue are shown as a histogram (top) and as a function of latitude (bottom) with colors indicating all regions (blue), regions with anti-Joy (red), and anti-Hale (purple) tilts. Over 40% of regions disobey the laws of Joy and Hale.
An unprecedented observation of a limb flare in HMI’s white-light continuum shows that the white-light intensity at the post-flare loop-top continues to grow for 16 more minutes while UV/EUV intensities decay. Both the WL/UV intensity and the EUV intensities show quasi-periodic pulsations with a period close to 8.0 and 6.8 minutes, respectively.
Instead of the center-annulus measurement geometry that time-distance helioseismology typically uses, a new one-sided center-arc measurement scheme is developed. This method shows advantage in measuring subsurface flows in in a close neighborhood of magnetic regions.
A time variable center-to-limb effect in photospheric velocity measurements through local correlation tracking is identified, and a robust methodology to correct for it is developed.
A new method, which is to characterize the multiscale convective spectrum of the Sun using high-resolution line-of-sight Dopplergram images from HMI, is developed, enabling the authors to estimate the spectrum to the finest observable scales.
A new website is developed to host HMI’s time-distance pipeline products, including far-side images, subsurface flows, evolution of near-surface zonal and meridional flows.
A statistical study of hundreds of solar flares, with or without CMEs associated with them, indicates the larger the total magnetic flux of the flare-host active region, the less likely the flare is associated with a CME.
An analysis of granule sizes over a few years of HMI observations shows that, even in quite regions, the granular size shows an anti-correlation with the solar magnetic activity with a time delay of about 300 days. The granular size decreases by about 2% during the activity maximum relative to the minimum.