Near-surface shear layer (NSSL)

An international team of solar physicists have traced giant tides of plasma beneath the Sun’s surface at a region called near-surface shear layer (NSSL).

• The plasma currents shift with the Sun’s magnetic heartbeat and could have far-reaching influence on space weather and Earth.

• The near-surface shear layer (NSSL) extending to about 35,000 km in depth is a critical region beneath the Sun’s surface.

• It is marked by distinct rotational behaviours that vary with depth and by changes, over space and time, that relate to active region magnetic fields and the solar cycle.

(Source: PIB)