W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4085, USA.
Science. 2011 Aug 19;333(6045):993-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1206253.
Sunspots are regions where strong magnetic fields emerge from the solar interior and where major eruptive events occur. These energetic events can cause power outages, interrupt telecommunication and navigation services, and pose hazards to astronauts. We detected subsurface signatures of emerging sunspot regions before they appeared on the solar disc. Strong acoustic travel-time anomalies of an order of 12 to 16 seconds were detected as deep as 65,000 kilometers. These anomalies were associated with magnetic structures that emerged with an average speed of 0.3 to 0.6 kilometer per second and caused high peaks in the photospheric magnetic flux rate 1 to 2 days after the detection of the anomalies. Thus, synoptic imaging of subsurface magnetic activity may allow anticipation of large sunspot regions before they become visible, improving space weather forecast.
太阳黑子是强磁场从太阳内部浮现的区域，也是重大爆发事件发生的地方。这些能量事件可能导致停电、中断电信和导航服务，并对宇航员构成危险。我们在太阳盘上出现之前就探测到了新太阳黑子区域的地下特征。在深达 65000 公里的地方，探测到了强达 12 到 16 秒的声传播时间异常。这些异常与以平均速度 0.3 到 0.6 公里/秒浮现的磁场结构有关，并在探测到异常后 1 到 2 天，引起了光球层磁通量率的高峰。因此，对地下磁场活动的综合成像可以在大型太阳黑子区域变得可见之前对其进行预测，从而提高空间天气预报的准确性。
