One of the outstanding questions facing solar physicists is the origin of the solar magnetic cycle: What drives the 11-year sunspot cycle?太阳物理学家面临的突出问题之一是太阳磁周期的起源：是什么推动了11年的太阳黑子周期？ We have just passed an extended and deep minimum, unlike any in the past 100 years.我们刚刚通过了一个扩展和深厚的{zd1}，不像过去的100年的。 The late onset of the new solar cycle (#24) and the unusually deep minimum between cycles 23 and 24 took all experts by surprise, which suggests that there is a fundamental lack in our understanding of the origin of the solar activity cycle.新的太阳活动周期（＃24）和周期之间的23和24人感到意外，这表明有一个我们对太阳活动周期的起源缺乏基本的了解非常深刻的所有专家的{zd1}晚发。

The Sun's meridional circulation is a massive flow pattern within the Sun that transports hot plasma near the surface from the solar equator to the poles and back to the equator in the deeper layers of the convection zone, similar to a "conveyor belt".太阳的经向环流，是在靠近太阳的运输，从太阳赤道面的极点和回在对流区，类似“传送带深层赤道热等离子体的大规模流动模式”。 The flow is rather slow, with typical speeds of 10-15 m/s (20 to 30 mph).该流程是相当缓慢，与典型的速度10-15米/秒（20到30英里）。 The structure and strength of this meridional flow is believed to play a key role in determining the strength of the Sun's polar magnetic field, which in turn determines the strength of the sunspot cycles.的结构和本经向流的力量，相信在确定太阳的极地磁场，从而决定了太阳黑子周期的力量力量方面发挥关键作用。 One class of dynamo models predicts that a stronger meridional flow produces weaker polar fields, whereas another class of models predicts stronger polar fields (and a shorter sunspot cycle) for the same flow.其中一个发电机模型的类，而另一种预测模型类的一个更强有力的经向流产生弱极性领域，预计强极性领域（和太阳黑子周期缩短）为相同流量。

Analyzing more than 60,000 full disk magnetograms registered by the MDI instrument on SOHO between May 1996 and June 2009, scientist now measured the latitudinal profile of this flow and its variations over a solar cycle by tracking the motions of small-scale magnetic flux concentrations, which are carried away by the meridional flow like leaves on a river.分析超过60,000完整磁盘的关于SOHO族的MDI文书登记1996年5月至2009年6月，现在测量了这种流动纬向形象和跟踪多的小规模磁通浓度，太阳活动周期的议案及其变化的科学家磁力被带走的河流就像树叶经向流。 They found an average flow that is poleward at all latitudes up to 75 degrees, which suggests that it extends all the way to the poles.他们发现，平均流量是极地在所有纬度高达75度，这表明它延伸到了极点的方法。 Perhaps even more importantly, they also found that the flow was faster at sunspot cycle minimum than at maximum and substantially faster on the approach to the current minimum than it was at the last solar minimum.也许更重要的是，他们还发现，流量速度远远快于在{zd0}太阳黑子周期的{zd1}，大大快于目前{zd1}的方法比在{zh1}太阳{zd1}的。 This finding poses new constraints on solar dynamo models and may help to explain why the last solar minimum was so peculiar.这一发现提出了关于太阳能发电机模型的新限制，可能有助于解释为什么过去太阳能{zd1}是如此奇特。