Bibcode
Gošić, M.; Bellot Rubio, L. R.; del Toro Iniesta, J. C.; Orozco Suárez, D.; Katsukawa, Y.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 820, Issue 1, article id. 35, 8 pp. (2016).
Advertised on:
3
2016
Journal
Citations
45
Refereed citations
40
Description
Small-scale internetwork magnetic fields are important ingredients of
the quiet Sun. In this paper we analyze how they appear and disappear on
the solar surface. Using high resolution Hinode magnetograms, we follow
the evolution of individual magnetic elements in the interior of two
supergranular cells at the disk center. From up to 38 hr of continuous
measurements, we show that magnetic flux appears in internetwork regions
at a rate of 120 ± 3 Mx cm‑2
day‑1 (3.7 ± 0.4 × 1024 Mx
day‑1 over the entire solar surface). Flux disappears
from the internetwork at a rate of 125 ± 6 Mx
cm‑2 day‑1 (3.9 ± 0.5 ×
1024 Mx day‑1) through fading of magnetic
elements, cancelation between opposite-polarity features, and
interactions with network patches, which converts internetwork elements
into network features. Most of the flux is lost through fading and
interactions with the network, at nearly the same rate of about 50 Mx
cm‑2 day‑1. Our results demonstrate
that the sources and sinks of internetwork magnetic flux are well
balanced. Using the instantaneous flux appearance and disappearance
rates, we successfully reproduce the time evolution of the total
unsigned flux in the two supergranular cells.