News from the Solar Interior

摘要

The solar magnetic field changes dramatically over a 22-year cycle, as evinced by cyclical changes in the number and location of sunspots. This magnetic activity is commonly thought to be controlled in a thin shear layer in the solar interior, called the tachocline (1). On page 2456 of this issue, Howe et al. (2) report the first direct observations of dynamic activity near the tachocline, but the form of that activity comes as a surprise.