Distribution of the inclination cos(θ) of the swirling strength vector as a function of altitude z for three different simulations: (a) MHD simulation with an initial vertical, homogeneous magnetic field of 200 G, (b) MHD simulation with an initial field of 50 G, and (c) purely hydrodynamical simulation. The inclination θ refers to the angle between the swirl axis and the vertical direction. Horizontally oriented swirls are binned close to cos(θ) = 0, while vertically oriented swirls are close to cos(θ) = 1. The maximum value of swirling strength λ_max at each height z, for each simulation, and with a minimum of 10 occurrences per bin, is shown in panel d. The occurrences are means over 5 different time instants of 960 × 960 × 280 data points for each simulation. The bin sizes are Δz = 10 km and Δcos(θ) = 3.62 × 10⁻³. Swirls with λ < 2.09 × 10⁻² Hz are neglected.