Evolution of the flow field in decaying active regions, Transition from a moat flow to a supergranular flow

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of the horizontal flow field around sunspots during their decay by analysing its extension and horizontal velocity around eight spots using SDO/HMI Doppler maps. By assuming a radially symmetrical flow field, the applied analysis method determines the radial dependence of the azimuthally averaged flow field. For comparison, we studied the flow in supergranules using the same technique. All investigated, fully fledged sunspots are surrounded by a flow field whose horizontal velocity profile decreases continuously from 881 m s${}^{-1}$ at 1.1 Mm off the spot boundary, down to 199 m s${}^{-1}$ at a mean distance of 11.9 Mm to that boundary. Once the penumbra is fully dissolved, however, the velocity profile of the flow changes: The horizontal velocity increases with increasing distance to the spot boundary until a maximum value of about 398 m s${}^{-1}$ is reached. Then, the horizontal velocity decreases for farther distances to the spot boundary. In supergranules, the horizontal velocity increases with increasing distance to their centre up to a mean maximum velocity of 355 m s${}^{-1}$. For larger distances, the horizontal velocity decreases. We thus find that the velocity profile of naked sunspots resembles that of supergranular flows. The evolution of the flow field around individual sunspots is influenced by the way the sunspot decays and by the interplay with the surrounding flow areas. Observations of the flow around eight decaying sunspots suggest that as long as penumbrae are present, sunspots with their moat cell are embedded in network cells. The disappearance of the penumbra (and consequently the moat flow) and the competing surrounding supergranular cells, both have a significant role in the evolution of the flow field: The moat cell transforms into a supergranule, which hosts the remaining naked spot.

arXiv commentaccepted for publication in A&A, 11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; appendix with 9 figures and 8 online movies

References in corpus (11)

• Numerical simulations of sunspot decay: On the penumbra -- Evershed flow -- moat flow connection
• Flow Field Evolution of a Decaying Sunspot
• Horizontal flow fields observed in Hinode G-band images II. Flow fields in the final stages of sunspot decay
• Spectropolarimetry of a decaying sunspot penumbra
• Moat flow in the vicinity of sunspots for various penumbral configurations
• On the Moat-Penumbra Relation
• Correlations between sunspots and their moat flows
• The three-dimensional structure of sunspots II. The moat flow at two different heights
• Structure and evolution of solar supergranulation using SDO/HMI data
• Moat flow system around sunspots in shallow subsurface layers
• On the extent of the moat flow in axisymmetric sunspots

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Expulsion of counter Evershed flows from sunspot penumbrae
• Coronal kink oscillations and photospheric driving: combining SolO/EUI and SST/CRISP high-resolution observations
• Evolution of the flow field in decaying active regions II. Converging flows at the periphery of naked spots
• Magnetic properties of orphan penumbrae
• Dynamics and connectivity of an extended arch filament system