Speaker
Description
We analyse high-resolution data from the TuMag instrument aboard the Sunrise III balloon mission. Vortices are identified using a velocity-independent approach that detects their signatures directly in intensity patterns, combining morphological identification of vortex structures with Spectral Proper Orthogonal Decomposition to extract coherent dynamical patterns imprinted by vortices in Mg I $b_2$ time series. This spectral line allows us to probe both the photosphere and the low chromosphere. Our results show that approximately $8.5\times10^4$ vortices are present on the Sun at any given time, with typical lifetimes of around 27 minutes. Inter-layer coupling is quantified using Granger causality, which tests whether variations in one atmospheric layer statistically predict future changes in another, making it sensitive to both energy and momentum transport. Within vortices, this coupling is not spatially uniform: parts of the vortex region show the lower layer driving the upper one, while other parts show the reverse, producing a characteristic dipolar, "yin-yang" pattern of directional influence. Notably, the same dipolar pattern is recovered in numerical simulations when examining vertical energy transport measured by the Poynting flux in vortex regions. Our results show that lower-atmospheric fluctuations more effectively predict upper-atmospheric variations within vortices than in control regions, with predictive coupling approximately 27% stronger inside vortices. This provides the first observational indication that solar vortices are capable of organising and enhancing transport between atmospheric layers.