supergranulation

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | 625 words | Copyright

supergranulation A convection pattern in the Sun's photosphere, consisting of large (30 000 km) convection cells within which there is a mainly horizontal flow outwards to the cell's edge, with a slight upward flow at the cell's centre and downward flow at the cell's edges. The velocity of the horizontal flow is only 0.4 km/s. A typical lifetime of a supergranule cell is a day. Small areas of strong magnetic field are transported outwards from cell centres to the edges, where the field is mostly concentrated. This appears to give rise to the chromospheric network, consisting of clumps of spicules.

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