Characteristics of solar meridional flows

Abstract

We have done a ring-diagram analysis of MDI full-disc data to determine the properties of solar meridional flow in the outer 2% of the Sun over the solar cycle 23. The meridional flows show a migrating pattern with higher-velocity flows migrating toward the equator as activity increases. Additionally, we find that the migrating pattern of the meridional flow matches those of the sunspot butterfly diagram and the zonal flows in the shallow layers. A Legendre polynomial decomposition of the meridional flows shows that the latitudinal pattern of the flow was also different during the maximum as compared to that during the two minima. We also find that the dominant component of the meridional flows during solar maxima was much lower than that during the minima of solar cycles 23 and 24.