Events

Rossby waves are a fundamental class of inertial oscillations in rotating fluids, long predicted to play an important role in stellar interiors. Using long-duration space-based helioseismic observations, I will present evidence for two additional families of global-scale inertial waves in the Sun: thermal Rossby waves driven by baroclinic effects, and magneto-Rossby waves modified by internal magnetic fields. These modes appear as coherent, dispersive ridges with amplitudes of order 10 cm s⁻¹ and frequencies comparable to the solar rotation rate. Their properties provide new constraints on solar convection, internal magnetism, and angular momentum transport, and demonstrate the power of inertial waves as probes of stellar interiors.