Localizing the solar cycle frequency shifts in global p-modes

The 6.5 yr span of observations from the Global Oscillation Network Group and the Michelson Doppler Imager aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory allows a detailed study of the solar cycle-related frequency shifts at the level of central frequencies and a-coefficients from individual multiplets and even of individual modes within a multiplet. We analyze such data and show that the shifts at all levels of averaging are consistent with the hypothesis that the global p-mode frequency shifts are closely related to the surface magnetic field distribution. Furthermore, the evolution of the surface magnetic flux distribution can be reconstructed by an inversion technique operating on the shifts within individual (n, l) multiplets.