Proper orthogonal decomposition of solar photospheric motions

The spatiotemporal dynamics of the solar photosphere is studied by performing a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of line of sight velocity fields computed from high resolution data coming from the MDI/SOHO instrument. Using this technique, we are able to identify and characterize the different dynamical regimes acting in the system. Low-frequency oscillations, with frequencies in the range 20-130 mu Hz, dominate the most energetic POD modes (excluding solar rotation), and are characterized by spatial patterns with typical scales of about 3 Mm. Patterns with larger typical scales of similar or equal to 10 Mm, are associated to p-modes oscillations at frequencies of about 3000 mu Hz.