Magnetic cross-hemispheric coupling in the tachocline

Cartesian closeup of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the core-envelope interface in a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of solar convection, near time of cycle maximum. The purple and yellow tube-like structures are an opacity rendering of the total magnetic field strength, and highlight the presence of a well-defined magnetic flux system oriented primarily in the longitudinal direction, peaking at mid-latitude and antisymmetric about the equatorial plane. The fieldlines, color-coded according to their hemisphere of origin, indicate that the two hemispheres are magnetically coupled.

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Ghizaru, M., Charbonneau, P., et Smolarkiewicz, P.K., Magnetic cycles in a large eddy simulation of solar convection, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 715, L133-L137; on ADS
Racine, E., Charbonneau, P., Ghizaru, M., Bouchat, A., et Smolarkiewicz, P.K., On the mode of dynamo action in a global large-eddy simulation of solar convection, The Astrophysical Journal, 735, id46; on ADS