THIS PROJECT WILL USE SEVERAL CONTINUOUS MULTI-MONTH LONG INTERVALS OF MAGNETOGRAMS AND DOPPLERGRAMS MADE WITH THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER ONBOARD THE CURRENTLY OPERATING SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY. THESE INTERVALS WILL SAMPLE THE ENTIRE 6+ YEARS OF THE SDO MISSION SPANNING FROM A PERIOD OF EXTREME SOLAR QUIESCENCE TO THE SOLAR MAXIMUM AND INTO THE DECLINING PHASE OF CYCLE 24. THERE ARE FOUR MAIN COMPONENTS TO THE PROJECT: 1) WE WILL USE LOCAL HELIOSEISMIC TECHNIQUES INCLUDING BOTH TIME-DISTANCE AND HOLOGRAPHY MEASUREMENTS TO OBTAIN ACOUSTIC (P-MODE) TRAVEL TIMES FOR WAVES PROPAGATING THROUGH SUPERGRANULES. WE WILL EMPLOY ENSEMBLE AVERAGING OF MEASUREMENTS OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SUPERGRANULES TO MINIMIZE NOISE. WE WILL MAKE TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS OF WAVES WITH A WIDE RANGE OF SKIP-DISTANCE IN ORDER TO SEPARATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MEASUREMENTS OF VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL MOTIONS WITHIN THE CONVECTIVE CELLS. 2) WE WILL INFER THE DEPTH VARIATION OF THE ENSEMBLE-AVERAGED SUPERGRANULAR FLOWS USING EXISTING AND EASILY FINE TUNED FORWARD MODELS OF THE FLOWS WHICH USE SENSITIVITY FUNCTIONS DERIVED THROUGH AN EMPIRICALLY-BASED SCHEME BASED ON THE BORN APPROXIMATION. VALIDATION OF THE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SIMULATIONS OF WAVE PROPAGATION THROUGH THE BEST MATCHED FLOWS. 3) WE WILL EXAMINE HOW TRAVEL-TIME MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS VARY AMONGST DIFFERENT SUBSETS OF SUPERGRANULES SELECTED ACCORDING TO THE STRENGTH OF THEIR HORIZONTAL DIVERGENCE. 4) WE WILL COMPARE MEASUREMENTS AND FLOWS FOR SUPERGRANULES WITH VARYING AMOUNTS OF NEARBY MAGNETIC FLUX. THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SUPERGRANULATION FLOWS WITH MAGNETIC FIELD WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED BY LOOKING AT VARIATIONS OF THEIR PROPERTIES WITH TIME OVER THE SOLAR CYCLE. UNDESIRED EFFECTS OF THE MAGNETIC NETWORK ON TRAVEL TIMES AND INFERRED FLOWS WILL BE ASSESSED THROUGH NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS.
$350,424FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Northwest Research Associates, Inc., Bellevue WA