Abstract
THE application of seismology to the study of the solar interior1, 2(helioseismology) has advanced almost solely by the prediction and measurement of the Sun's frequencies of free oscillation, or normal modes. Direct measurement of the travel times and distances of individual acoustic waves—the predominant approach in terrestrial seismology3—would appear to be more difficult in view of the number and stochastic nature of solar seismic sources. Here, however, we show that it is possible to extract time-distance information from temporal cross-correlations of the intensity fluctuations on the solar surface. This approach opens the way for seismic studies of local solar phenomena, such as subsurface in homogeneities near sunspots, and should help to refine global models of the internal velocity stratification in the Sun.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hill, F., Deubner, F.-L. & Isaak, G. in Solar Interior and Atmosphere (eds Cox, A. N., Livingston, W. C. & Matthews, M. S.) 329–400 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1991).
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J. & Berthomieu, G. in Solar Interior and Atmosphere (eds Cox, A. N., Livingston. W. C. & Matthews, M. S.) 401–478 (Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, 1991).
Jeffreys, H. The Earth, 4th edn (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1959).
Gubbins, D. Seismology and Plate Tectonics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990).
Kumar, P. & Goldreich, P. Astrophys. J. 342, 558–575 (1989).
Osaki, Y. in Progress of Seismology of the Sun and Stars (eds Osaki, T. & Shibahashi, H.) 75–86 (Lecture Notes in Physics 367. Springer, Berlin, 1990).
Ulrich, R. K. Astrophys. J. 162, 993–1002 (1970).
Leibacher, J. W. & Stein, R. F. Astrophys. Lett. 7, 191–192 (1971).
Duvall, T. L. Jr, Jefferies, S. M., Harvey, J. W., Osaki, Y. & Pomerantz, M. A. Astrophys. J. (in the press).
Brown, T. M. Nature 317, 591–594 (1985).
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J. Solar Seismology from Space 219–253 (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Publication 84-84, Pasadena, 1984).
Bracewell, R. The Fourier Transform and its Applications (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1965).
Jennison, R. C. Fourier Transforms and Convolutions for the Experimentalist (Pergamon, New York, 1961).
Duvall, T. L. Jr, Harvey, J. W., Jefferies, S. M. & Pomerantz, M. A. Astrophys. J. 373, 308–316 (1991).
Kumar, P. & Lu, E. Astrophys. J. 375, L35–L39 (1991).
Balmforth, N. J. & Gough, D. Astrophys. J. 362, 256–266 (1990).
Brown, T. M., Astrophys. J. 371, 396–401 (1991).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Duvall, T., Jeffferies, S., Harvey, J. et al. Time–distance helioseismology. Nature 362, 430–432 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/362430a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/362430a0
This article is cited by
-
Towards passive non-line-of-sight acoustic localization around corners using uncontrolled random noise sources
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Dynamics of Large-Scale Solar Flows
Space Science Reviews (2023)
-
Surface and interior meridional circulation in the Sun
Living Reviews in Solar Physics (2022)
-
Passive optical time-of-flight for non line-of-sight localization
Nature Communications (2019)
-
A Time–Distance Helioseismology Method for Quasi-Linear Geometries
Solar Physics (2019)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
