A three-dimensional Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo model: Initial results with axisymmetric flows

The main objective of this paper is to introduce the STABLE (Surface flux Transport And Babcock-LEighton) solar dynamo model. STABLE is a 3D Babcock-Leighton/Flux Transport dynamo model in which the source of poloidal field is the explicit emergence, distortion, and dispersal of bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs). Here we describe the STABLE model in more detail than we have previously and we verify it by reproducing a 2D mean-field benchmark. We also present some representative dynamo simulations, focusing on the special case of kinematic magnetic induction and axisymmetric flow fields. Not all solutions are supercritical; it can be a challenge for the BL mechanism to sustain the dynamo when the turbulent diffusion near the surface is ⩾1012 cm2 s−1. However, if BMRs are sufficiently large, deep, and numerous, then sustained, cyclic, dynamo solutions can be found that exhibit solar-like features. Furthermore, we find that the shearing of radial magnetic flux by the surface differential rotation can account for most of the net toroidal flux generation in each hemisphere, as has been recently argued for the Sun by Cameron and Schüssler (2015).