Simulation of a plage region. The map is a 2D snapshot from a 3D magnetoconvection simulation showing the vertical component of the magnetic field saturated at ±700 G. This snapshot roughly corresponds to the average τ₅₀₀ = 1 surface. Similar to Fig. 1, the three boxes (numbered 1–3) enclose regions exhibiting transient magnetic flux emergence (cf. Fig. 5). Each box covers an area of 2 Mm × 2 Mm in the simulation domain. See Sect. 3 for details.