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Helioseismic Holography of Simulated Solar Convection and Prospects for the Detection of Small-Scale Subsurface Flows

We perform helioseismic holography on realistic solar convection simulations and compare the observed travel-time perturbations with the expected travel times from the horizontal flows in the simulations computed from forward models under the assumption of the Born approximation. We demonstrate reasonable agreement between the observed and model travel times which reinforces the validity of helioseismic holography in the detection of subsurface horizontal flows. From the variation of the signal-to-noise ratio with depth, we conclude that the helioseismic detection of individual flow structures with spatial scales of supergranulation or smaller is not possible for depths below about 5 Mm below the surface over time scales less than a day. Approximately half of the observed signal originates within the first 2 Mm below the surface. A consequence of this is a rapid decrease (and reversal in some cases) of the travel-time perturbations with depth due to the contribution to the measurements of oppositely directed surface flows in neighboring convective cells. This confirms an earlier interpretation of similar effects reported from observations.