A procedure for the inversion of f-mode travel times for solar flows

We perform a two-dimensional inversion of f-mode travel times to determine near-surface solar flows. The inversion is based on optimally localized averaging of travel times. We use finite-wavelength travel-time sensitivity functions and a realistic model of the data errors.We find that it is possible to obtain a spatial resolution of 2 Mm. The error in the resulting flow estimate ultimately depends on the observation time and the number of travel distances used in the inversion. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)