In an MHD simulation of flux emergence, a δ-sunspot is formed spontaneously by a collision of areas with opposite polarities. Driven by convective flows and counter-streaming flows, sheared polarity inversion lines form and flux ropes are created above.
Subsurface meridional flows from ring-diagram analysis showed a clear hemispheric asymmetry in last 18 years. Interestingly, this flow asymmetry leads the magnetic flux and sunspot number asymmetry by 3.1 – 3.6 years.
To minimize cross-talk effect from vertical flows and sound-speed perturbations, a new inversion code is developed to invert for flows and sound-speed perturbations simultaneously from time-distance travel-time measurements. The code is validated using numerical simulation data.
Ring-diagram analysis is applied on the HMI-observed sunspots of about 3 years. The attenuation of wave amplitudes near sunspots, rotational speed of sunspots, and subsurface flows around sunspots are discussed.
A newly discovered, fast-moving wave propagates outward along sunspots’ radial direction and may provide new diagnostics of the sunspot subsurface structure.
The magnetic field of active region NOAA 11092 shows a persistent counter-clockwise twist in the solar atmosphere from the photosphere to the corona. The subsurface flows associated with this region are twisted in the opposite direction.