Saturn's Northern Hemisphere Ribbon; Characterizing the Wave Mode Composition

Details Saturn's Northern Hemisphere Ribbon; Characterizing the Wave Mode Composition Saturn's Northern Hemisphere Ribbon; Characterizing the Wave Mode Composition

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p21a1326s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P21A-1326

Physics

0343 Planetary Atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704), 5700 Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets, 5704 Atmospheres (0343, 1060)

Scientific paper

We analyze the wave-like feature in Saturn's northern mid-latitude known as the Ribbon. It was originally discovered by the Voyagers in 1980-81 (Sromovsky et al. 1983, JGR). In the visible wavelengths, the Ribbon appears as a dark line which meanders around 48 degree north planetographic latitude and completely engirdles the planet. Studies in the past suggest that the dark line traces the core of the zonal jet blowing at the latitude, and the Ribbon has been interpreted as a manifestation of instability modes (Godfrey and Moore 1986, Icarus). The wave's time dependent behavior suggests that nonlinear wave-wave interaction between different wave modes play an important role in shaping the Ribbon, which is remarkable because even though the oscillation amplitude is beyond the linear regime, the jet's meandering amplitude seems to reach an equilibrium and does not destroy the jet. The Ribbon was found again in ground-based observations in 1994-1995 (Sanchez-Lavega 2002, Icarus), and it can be also seen in recent Cassini images as well, which suggests that this is a long-lived feature on the planet. Our investigation first examines the conditions that allow the instability mode to have the zonal-wavelength characteristics and propagation phase speed observed by Voyager. Our simulations capture important nonlinear features of the observed Ribbon wave. Our modeling effort uses the EPIC atmosphere model by Dowling et al (1998 and 2006, Icarus). In addition to the dynamical modeling of the Ribbon, we examine the Ribbon captured in recent Cassini ISS observations. We measure the longitudinal wavelengths of the dominant oscillation modes and their phase speeds, and compare their current properties to those during the Voyager era.

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