Study of calcium-K network evolution from Antarctica

Abstract

To study the evolution of large convective cells known as supergranules, a solar telescope was set up at Maitri, Indian permanent station in Antarctica region, during the local summer months (December 1989 through March 1990). A continuous sequence of calcium K-line filtergrams for 106 hours spaced at intervals of about 10 min was obtained. The analysis of the data indicates that the most probable lifetime of the calcium-K network is about 22 hours. The lifetime depends upon the size of the cell and is larger for bigger cells. The data also show that cells (of a given size) associated with remnant magnetic field regions live longer than those in the field-free region. This may mean that the magnetic field plays an important role in the confinement of these structures.