Masters Thesis

Enhanced up-flows observed on the solar granules

This study is the result from a survey of 572 Enhanced Up-Flows (EUF) observed on granules in the solar photosphere using the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) on board the SUNRISE balloon-borne observatory. EUFs are features with line-of-sight (LOS) speeds in excess of 1.8 kms/s. They occur in the bright centers of small decaying granules which do not fragment and on the bright edges of large granules which do fragment. The EUFs are most commonly found about 0.1′′ from the granule edge, towards granule center. The probability distributions of EUF area and lifetime give a mean area of 0.028 square-Mm and mean lifetime of about 2.3 minutes, respectively. The maximum area an EUF grows to during its lifetime correlates strongly with the length of its lifetime. The similarities between these results and those found in various observations and numerical simulations of granular dynamics are discussed.

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