Variation with height in the mean temperature ⟨ T ⟩ in several snapshots taken from the magneto-convection simulations with small-scale dynamo action by Rempel (2014). The ⟨ T ⟩ values correspond to the horizontal averages at each height in these snapshots. Top panel: temporal evolution of the mean temperature in time series snapshots with unsigned vertical mean field strength ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 80 G (thin gray curves). The curves are separated by a 120-solar-second time interval, and they cover 40 min of the stationary regime. Open red circles and red crosses indicate the snapshot models with ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 80 G and ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 0.5 G used in this study. Bottom panel: temperature differences Δ ⟨ T ⟩ between the two snapshot models with ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 80 G and ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 0.5 G (solid red curve). The dashed curve indicates the height variation of the standard deviation σ in the temperature, calculated from the spatially and temporally averaged value in the time series snapshots with ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 80. The second horizontal axis gives the mean optical depths log₁₀ ⟨ τ₅ ⟩ in the ⟨ | B_z | ⟩ = 80 G model of Rempel (2014), corresponding to the atmospheric heights given in the bottom horizontal axis.