(clockwise, from top-left)
The image is a Molleweide projection located just below the solar surface, with yellow/white tones representing warmer plasma and blue/black tones representing cooler plasma. The solar equator is a few Kelvin warmer than the poles in this simulation, while localized spots of cool plasma dot the layer, corresponding to swirling downflow plumes.
Here we see the radial velocity field just below the solar surface in one such simulation, shown in a Molleweide projection. Bright and dark tones denote upflowing and downflowing plasma respectively. An intricate network of strong, narrow downflow lanes blankets the entire surface, often forming localized, swirling plumes.
This ghostly image shows the enstrophy, which is the magnitude of the vorticity vector squared, in a numerical simulation of solar convection. A Molleweide projection is shown near the middle of the convection zone, about 100 Mm below the solar surface. The enstrophy is very intermittent, confined to very strong downflow plumes and lanes which produce vortex rings and sheets through the entrainment of surrounding plasma.