Convection structure in the solar photosphere at granulation and mesogranulation scales

Vertical structure of the solar photospheric convection is investigated using the profiles of neutral iron line λ ≈ 639.3 nm measured in a non-pertubed region near the center of the solar disk. The observations were carried out using German Vacuum Tower Telescope (Canary Islands, Spain). They are characterized by a high spatial resolution. Spatial-temporal variations of the kinematic and ther-modynamic parameters were reproduced by solving the nonequilibrium inverse radiative transfer problem. The wave motions were eliminated using the k — ω filtration. Spatial variations of temperature, vertical velocity, density, and gas pressure in convective cells are analyzed on the scales of granules (0.5–5 Mm) and mesogranules (5–12 Mm), respectively, at various heights in the solar photosphere (h = −25–500 km). When moving to the upper photosphere layers, the convective structure undergoes the following changes: at heights h = 200–250 km, the temperature inversion occurs, as well as some-times the inversion of convective velocities; at heights h = 50–100 km, the inversion of relative density variations takes place, the relative variations in density and pressure inside convective cells increase with height and become positive in ascending flows and negative in descending flows.