Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 342, Issue 6163, Pages 1217-1219Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1244682
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Funding
- NASA
- NASA Heliophysics Supporting Research and Technology (SRT) Program
- NASA Living With a Star (LWS) Program
- University of Alabama in Huntsville by funds from NSF [AGS-1157027]
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1157027] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Heat is transported through the outermost 30% of the Sun's interior by overturning convective motions. These motions are evident at the Sun's surface in the form of two characteristic cellular structures: granules and supergranules (similar to 1000 and similar to 30,000 kilometers across, respectively). The existence of much larger cells has been suggested by both theory and observation for more than 45 years. We found evidence for giant cellular flows that persist for months by tracking the motions of supergranules. As expected from the effects of the Sun's rotation, the flows in these cells are clockwise around high pressure in the north and counterclockwise in the south and transport angular momentum toward the equator, maintaining the Sun's rapid equatorial rotation.
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