Zonal Flows Throughout Cycle 23

Abstract

We use available GONG and MDI data to study how solar zonal flows evolved over cycle 23 and whether or not there were differences between the minima of cycles 23 and 24. An autocorrelation study shows that as far as the zonal-flows are concerned, cycle 23 lasted for about 11.7 years, considerably shorter than what is seen from magnetic indices. We also find that there were significant differences in the nature of the flows between the minima of cycles 23 and 24.