Intergranular plumes and formation of network bright points

Wediscussthetemporalevolutionofthephotospheric intergranular lanes using a 1 hour time sequence of white-light images of solar granulation. The time series was obtained with the 50 cm refractor at the turret dome of the Pic du Midi Ob- servatory. Analysis reveals the existence of singularities in the intergranular lanes that we call "intergranular holes". Intergran- ular holes, which have diameters between 0.24 arcsec and 0.45 arcsec, are continuously visible for more than 45 minutes. The holes appear to be systematically distributed at the periphery of mesogranular and supergranular cells. Our study reveals the formation of bright points (BPs) in 4 out of 14 cases studied very close to the intergranular holes, suggesting that intergran- ular holes may be the locations where magnetic flux tubes are formed.